The Legend of the Lady in Black
by kokokringles
Summary: A few years after the Lloyd defeats the Overlord, the Ninja stumble accross a devious plot to take over Ninjago. But when the Ninja meet a character from Wu, Garmadon, and Misako's past, things get personal. AreiaCananaid edited all the chapters after chapter four. *ON HOLD, SEE LATEST A/N*
1. Prologue

**Hello readers! I was watching My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Applebuck Season and then I thought I really need to start another chapter story instead of my novelettes.**

**Then one of my favorite authors figured out what my pen-name is! YAY! It involves Nancy Drew. I LOVE mysteries and Ninjago. Ninjago has more romance than suspense so here is a Ninjago Mystery...**

**I'm in a seriously bubbly and hyper mood right now so I'm gonna go CRAZY in this introduction! The reasons why I'm hyper:**

**(1) One of my favorite authors figured out what my username meant!**

**(2) This is one of my sisters gotcha-days! My mom picked her up four years (I think) ago! **

**(3) I had cheesecake (That makes everyone happy)**

**(4) People really seem to enjoy my stories :D**

**(5) I came up with a mystery for Ninjago!**

**Okay...I can shut up now and get on with the story :)**

**Takes place after Goofing Off...read that if you want to know why the Bounty exists.**

***Clears throat* I'm sorry this introduction has almost 200 words...**

* * *

**Five decades ago...**

**(A.k.a. prologue)**

A woman in a black cape ran through the woods running from two young men named Garmadon and Wu. She had done something no one could every imagine.

"Stop! Stop!" Wu shouted, the woman was soon out of range, "Wu, she's gone. I can't believe she did that! I wouldn't even do THAT." Garmadon shook his head, "Misako is waiting for us at the pond." Wu grinned, "Race you there!" he took off, "You had a head start!" Garmadon rolled his eyes and tried to catch up with his younger brother.

The woman, tired of running fell out of the tree she was hiding in.

"You'll never find out. Never. Not in a hundred years."

* * *

**Present day...**

**(Still prologue)**

"That. Was. AWESOME!" Cole grinned. The five boys had escaped the Bounty to go bowling. Cole had gotten a strike and was neck and neck with Zane.

The next round was over and Zane won...for the fourth time.

"Do you have a bowling mode on or something?" Jay asked, "No."

"I guess we can pick that book up at the library your dad told us to get." Cole said and threw his cup in a nearby trash can, "Do you know where it is?" Kai asked.

* * *

After three whole hours of searching "WE FOUND IT!" Jay screamed, "Hush! This is a library!" Kai hissed.

* * *

"Here it is. Ancient Myths and Legends." Cole announced pulling a book off the shelf, "Why would your dad want this?" Lloyd asked turning to Zane. He shrugged and opened the book and started to read the first "myth" he found, "The Treasure of the Chicken...no," Zane turned to the next page, "The Legend of the Crystal Empire." Jay read out loud, "Isn't that My Little Pony?" Kai asked, "Eh, maybe we shouldn't read that one." Cole turned the next page.

"The Legend of the Crystal Skull." Lloyd read, "That's Nancy Drew." Zane commented, "Okay...how about The Legend of the Lady in Black?" Jay asked, "That sounds scary." Cole commented, "Cole...you wear black every day." Kai pointed out.

"Not the color! The legend."

"I actually know this legend." Kai said cocking his head, "You do? Why?" Lloyd asked, "My family went of camping trips and Dad told me and Nya scary stories over a campfire and this is one of them. I didn't know he got it from a legend."

"Well I don't feel like reading this. Why don't you tell us while we walk back home?" Zane suggested.

* * *

Cole put the book on his card then got in trouble when Lloyd stated, "Why do we have to be quiet when the receipt thing is so loud?" the woman obviously couldn't take a joke and started ranting.

"That woman really can't take a joke." Lloyd commented walking out the library, "You must feel sorry for her on April first." Zane agreed.

"Kai, what did you say the legend was about?" Cole looked at Kai, "Well there was supposedly this woman who did something...I can't remember it exactly but it was horrible. The police tracked her for years but couldn't find her because she was so cunning. After a while the police gave up and thought she was gone but the night she gave up the cops vanished one by one and a cryptic note replacing where they were sleeping and were never seen or heard from agin. Exactly seven years after there was a loud crash and-" Kai was interrupted by a loud crash Jay screamed and jumped into Zane's arms, "WHAT WAS THAT?!" he asked shaking then started to babble, "I don't wanna go missing and never be heard from again! I wanna be heard from! I will never go to sleep again alone! I can't be replaced by a note!" Lloyd put his hand over his mouth, "Kai...maybe you shouldn't finish this story." Cole shook his head, "Come on. Let's investigate that crash."

* * *

The ninja arrived where Zane said the crash was and when they arrived a black figure was walking towards them. Jay screamed, Zane froze, Lloyd's eyes were as big as saucers, Kai started to breathe heavily and Cole tried to look strong for his teammates but he was about to faint.

* * *

**OKAY! I about wet my pants writing this...this REALLY creeped me out and my eyes started to water...AHEM...what did you think? **

**Yes...this isn't usually my type of writing style but I guess there's a first time for everything, right?**

**QUESTION TIME!:**

**(1) Did you like the legend? **

**(2) What do you think is gonna happen to our heroes?**

**(3) What were Garmadon and Wu chasing fifty years ago?**

**(4) Is the legend actually true?**

**(5) What light do Wu and Garmadon have to shed? Any guesses?**

**(6) Can you vote in my poll?**

**All these questions and only one answer: Jay wouldn't survive Kai's dad scary stories xD**

**God bless and I hope you enjoyed reading this!**


	2. Notes

**Hee hee...don't you HATE cliffhangers? xD **

**I updated twice because I was too excited to publish the story so I couldn't wait...so here's another one!**

**Can't update tomorrow...SORRY!**

**I love leaving my readers hanging. Along with the chapter.**

**By the way...this story has a slight connection to Living in Memories and MAJOR spoilers so read that if you haven't...**

* * *

The black figure walked closer and closer.

And it turned out if was...Nya. Nya was wearing black because she had some work to do and her red dress would get show dirt easily so she wore her black clothes. The mud and dirt wouldn't show as easy. The boys about fainted with relief, "Is everything okay? You guys looked like you just saw the Overlord come back and kill Sensei." Nya chirped a laugh.

"No. Kai told us a scary legend about a woman in black...I guess our imaginations got the better of us." Jay chuckled slightly, "Funny you mention that; something weird has happened." Nya said.

"What? Did someone vanish with a cryptic note left his or her place?" Lloyd asked, "Follow me."

* * *

Nya led them inside a building and there sat a cryptic note reading "Your next" Jay bit his lip, "Alright...this is too much for me. Let's leave the matter and throw the note in the trash."

"Jay! Who did this? Don't you want to know?" Cole asked, "No. I already know who did this...THE LADY IN BLACK!" Jay responded and bent down to pick the note up again, "Don't touch it. The police will probably dust it for fingerprints and if they find yours they'll suspect you." Zane held Jay back.

"Well should we call them?" Kai asked, "I did. We've been waiting for twenty minutes." Nya replied.

The six kids just stared at the note for fifteen minutes until Cole jumped up in excitement scaring everyone, "THAT'S IT!" he screamed, "What?" Kai asked.

"The handwriting! I've seen that before!" Cole pointed to the handwriting, "It looks typed, Cole." Zane cocked his head to look closer at the writing, "No. It's not perfect. There's only one person in Ninjago who has handwriting as nice as this!" Cole declared, "Who?" Lloyd asked, "The mailman!"

* * *

**(A/n: SPOILER ALERT FOR LIVING IN MEMORIES!)**

* * *

"He didn't learn his lesson after kidnapping all of us and making Zane think we were all dead?" Nya asked, "Maybe not." Zane agreed, "But he seemed so sorry when he got caught." Nya protested.

"We'll ask him anyway. Nya, you stay here in case the police come." Kai said.

Zane still held a slight grudge towards that mailman but agreed to come anyway.

* * *

The ninja were in their ninja suits so they could get information easier when they got to the post office.

"Hello?" Jay called in, "It's open but it's...empty."

The five boys walked inside to find a note, "Stop or YOU will be next, ninja" the handwriting was different.

"I guess the mailman isn't the only one in on this?" Kai asked, "Maybe. Or he can change his handwriting." Cole shrugged.

"Guys...you read what the note said! Let's drop it. I don't want to be kidnapped and never be heard from again!" Jay was pacing, "How could you have been on the Dark Island and say that?" Lloyd asked.

"I know where the mailman lives." Kai piped up.

* * *

"We're here." Kai said, "This place looks pretty nice." Cole commented when Zane knocked on the door.

The mailman opened the door, "I didn't kidnap your friends if you came." he said quickly, "No. We came to ask you something." Jay told him.

"Did you write a note saying 'Your next'?" Cole asked, "YES BUT I'M SORRY A LADY IN BLACK TOLD ME TO WRITE IT OR SHE'D KILL ME!" the mailman blurted.

Lloyd blinked, "Um...a lady in black?" Jay gasped, "See, guys?! It's the Lady in Black coming for revenge!" he grabbed Zane's arm, "We should really back down RIGHT NOW!"

"Why would she want revenge?" Cole asked.

"Are you kidding?" Kai rolled his eyes, "NO!" Jay screamed then covered his mouth because all the mailman's neighbors were looking at him.

Kai thanked the mailman and they walked back to the Bounty to discuss things there until Nya called them.

"Kai...maybe you should tell us the rest of that legend." Zane said.

"Okay...as I was saying exactly seven years after the cops vanished a loud crash was heard. When other people went to investigate a note read 'Your next'. Three weeks after the incident everyone who knew about the cryptic message." Kai was going to continue until Jay interrupted him again, "SEE?! WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE IF WE DON'T DROP IT!" Zane sighed, "Have we ever died before?" he asked, "No. Because if we died you wouldn't be able to ask that!" Jay responded.

"Good point." Cole shrugged, "See?! I want to live another eighty years! Not die in three weeks!" Jay shook Cole's arm.

"Jay! My story isn't done! Anyway, the police investigated it some more but they got a note saying 'Stop it or you will be next, cops'. The police didn't stop and you know what? They went missing five weeks after." Kai stopped talking to see his teammates' faces.

Jay looked petrified, Cole and Zane seemed interested and Lloyd just looked confused with the whole thing.

"Okay...this is an interesting story but what next?" Cole asked, "I don't know...Mom knew the legend and stopped Dad from telling the rest but he never got to..." Kai replied.

"Well...we can always read it in the book." Zane shrugged. Jay ran into the Bounty's anchor.

"HELP! THE LADY IN BLACK IS TRYING TO KILL ME!" Cole grinned.

"Ooh...heh." Jay blushed then jumped ten feet in the air when his cell phone rang, "Oh brother..." Lloyd shook his head.

Jay hung up, "It was Nya. She has something important to tell us."

"What?" Cole asked, "The Lady in Black has been spotted on the security camera."

* * *

**Okay! I didn't scare myself while writing this chapter xD**

**I'm gonna turn this story in a big puzzle to help you discover the secret of the Lady in Black!**

**Hint number one: ****Look at the weeks Kai said in his story. If you don't want to look...here they are: three and five. You'll probably find a pattern. AND, if you look in the last chapter there is a number seven...**

**Yes...I planned for Sensei Wu and Garmadon to come clean in the next chapter but this came up...**

** AreiaCananaid: Great! Now I'll think about Nancy Drew and the Captive Curse every time I sit down and write these things D: I'm too scared to go in the woods while playing the game because every time I go in there it takes me half an hour to find my way out! Sure. I could use some help on writing my stories :)**

**QUESTION TIME!:**

**(1) Are you gonna try to find the pattern in the numbers? (it's really easy!)**

**(2) What do you think the security camera really caught the Lady in Black?**

**(3) AGAIN, what do you think Wu and Garmadon were chasing in the prologue? (I ask this because this is a really important question)**

**(4) What do you think happened to the people who vanished?**

**(5) Is Jay getting annoying with all his paranoia?**

**(6) Who did you think was walking towards our heroes in the last chapter?**

**Remember...I CAN'T UPDATE TOMORROW! SORRY!**

**God bless :)**


	3. Footage of the Lady in Black

**YEAH, BABY! I took a three-mile walk! AIN'T YA PROUD OF ME?!**

**Audience: "NO!"**

**AWWW...**

**I'm probably gonna scream when I reread this chapter to look for my spelling mistakes...so be warned!**

**ANSWERING REVIEWS TIME:**

** ZaneWalker: I would be glad to let you help me write stories. Always room for improvement :D**

**I only have one review to answer :P**

**Okay...I've been hearing rumors saying Cole is fourteen...I looked it up and didn't find anything so please someone...tell me how that rumor started! **

* * *

The five boys dashed back to where they had left Nya (the autobody shop) and she was waiting for them. Her face was as white as paper.

"Nya!" Jay ran up to her, "What's wrong?"

"The Lady in Black. She was caught on video."

* * *

Nya showed them the security video.

"Look! There's the Lady in Black!" Jay pointed to the screen where a woman in all black seemed to be floating around over the ground.

She looked up at the camera. Her face looked horrific.

Her eyeshadow seemed to be dripping down her face, her skin was white as snow, her eyes and hair was dark. Her nails her long and painted black as well as her lipstick. And her hair was long and stringy. Something you'd see in a horror movie. **(If you saw the cover art for Nancy Drew Ghost of Thorton Hall...that's kind of what she looked like...)**

Jay screamed and even louder when she seemed to float to the camera and sort of...growl. She had a type of mini-fangs which made it scarier.

Jay hid behind Kai and Nya turned it off, "Well what do you make of it?" Nya asked, "You know what I think?" Jay looked at his fellow ninja.

"What do you think, Jay?" Cole asked sounding exasperated, "I think we should drop this right now! I don't want to be kidnapped by a woman that looks like a vampire!"

"Jay...she probably has fake teeth on and wears a mask." Kai told him, "Who cares! It's still scary!"

"Jay. How bad can she be? She's a woman." Zane pointed out, "That doesn't mean she can't hurt you! She looks scary and even more scary close up! I mean come on! She looks like she floats!" Jay retorted.

"Nya..." Kai turned to Nya but she was gone!

"NYA?!" Kai screamed, "AHHH! NYA'S MISSING! WHERE DID SHE GO?!" Jay screamed.

The lights went off. That made everyone start go to "Freak Out Mode".

A flash of lightning struck showing the Lady in Black wearing a sinister grin then the lightning's light went out making the room go pitch black again.

* * *

***iPod makes a loud noise* AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! HELP! THE LADY IN BLACK IS REAL! AHHHHHHHH! Oh...it's my iPod...hehe.**

**That really happened while I was writing that part and that freaked the peanut butter outta me...**

**Why did it have to go off THEN? I'm still shaking a little...my teeth a chattering...GOSH, I scared myself...THANKS A LOT, iPOD!**

* * *

"AHHHHHHH! SHE'S A CEREAL KILLER! AND WE'RE GONNA BE HER NEXT VICTOMS!" Jay screamed, "Jay! She probably snuck in when the lights went out!" Kai reasoned trying not to show major panic in his voice.

Other screams were heard throughout the building, "She must have gone around scaring people." Zane said, "Zane! How can you not be scared?!" Jay asked his voice was very shaky.

"She isn't real. She has makeup on and it is making her look that way."

"I don't care if she was a little kid dressed up. She is scary!"

"GUYS! Remember! Nya's missing!" Cole reminded them, "Oh yeah...HELP NYA'S MISSING! CALL 911!" Jay started to freak out again.

A man walked towards them, "AHH! IT'S THE HEADLESS HORSEMAN THE GHOST OF A HESSIAN SOLDIER!" Jay screeched, "Jay!" Cole whacked him upside the head, "Jay, for once, act your age. Not your IQ." Kai shook his head at Jay, "Kai...that was kind of offensive." Lloyd looked at Kai.

"What brings you here this fine evening?" Zane asked the cop cheerfully.

* * *

**LOL! Did you notice I gave each of them a line that sorta determines their personalities:**

**Jay: "IT'S THE HEADLESS HORSEMAN THE GHOST OF A HESSIAN SOLDIER!"**

**Cole: "Jay!"**

**Kai: "Jay, for once, act your age. Not your IQ."**

**Lloyd: "Kai...that was kind of offensive."**

**Zane: "What brings you here this fine evening?"**

**Sorry if I got the Sleepy Hollow references wrong! I haven't read the book yet. So if I got it wrong, I apologize :)**

* * *

The cop nodded, "I heard you got a threatening note and a kidnapping?" he asked, "Yes...FROM THE LADY IN BLACK!" Jay was getting a little too scared for his own good.

"The Lady in Black? Mister, you really got to check on that brain of yours. The Lady in Black is a myth." he laughed, "No she isn't! She's real! We caught her on video!" Jay put the video camera footage on but the correct footage had been completely erased.

"Come with me, please." the cop led the boys to a...MENTAL HOSPITAL?!

"We're not crazy! She was on there! She must have tweaked the footage! We have a solid alibi! Ask the other people! They saw her! Ask them!" Kai protested, "You five were the only ones in there." the cop replied, "WHAT?! She kidnapped them too?!" Cole asked.

"Stay calm, brothers. It is quite obvious we are not insane." Zane told his brothers calmly, "Stay calm?! Nya and everyone in the building got kidnapped, we saw the Lady in Black and now a cop thinks we're crazy. What else could go wrong?" Kai snapped then Sensei walked in the mental hospital.

"Hey. Now it's as bad as it can get." Jay shrugged when Misako, Garmadon and Doctor Julien walked in behind him.

"NOW it's as bad as it's gonna get." Cole corrected them, "Quick! Pretend we didn't see them." Lloyd hissed. The five boys turned around hoping no one would recognize them.

But alas...they forgot they were wearing their ninja suits.

"Ah, there you are. You missed dinner." Sensei said walking up to them. The five boys let out a sigh and slowly turned around.

"Why are you at the mental hospital?" Kai asked, "I should be asking you the same thing. But we are here looking for you. My brother said you'd probably end up here one day." Sensei chuckled, "Not funny." Cole rolled his eyes.

"Lighten up." Garmadon shook his head, "LIGHTEN UP?! LIGHTEN UP?! THIS GUY THINKS WE'RE INSANE BECAUSE WE SAW THE LADY IN BLACK AND NOW WE'RE STUCK IN THIS MADHOUSE!" Kai yelled then covered his mouth forgetting he was in a hospital.

"Keep your voice down." a doctor scolded then mumbled something under his breath.

"The Lady in Black? She's just a myth." Doctor Julien pointed out, "Father, she may be a myth but some strange things have happened today. Nya and several other people have gone missing, we also received several threatening notes and we saw the Lady in Black. She was quite a sight." Zane replied.

"She was quite a sight alright." Kai sneered, "A complete head-turner." Cole added, "Can't disagree with you there." Lloyd chimed in.

"Was she _that_ beautiful?" Misako asked, "Are you kidding? She looked like a phantom!" Jay shook his head, "I wonder what happened to Nya."

"She got kidnapped by the Lady in Black." Cole told Jay, "I know...but _what_ happened to her."

"What do you mean what happened to Nya?" Sensei asked, "She got kidnapped by the Lady in Black before the only proof that the Lady in Black existed got deleted." Lloyd explained.

"The Lady in Black you say?" Garmadon asked, "Yeah. Today we've been working on a mystery but so far we've just got an unfinished story." Cole nodded the cop still signing papers.

"Come with me. We have something very important to tell you." Sensei said.

* * *

**This was the scariest chapter I have ever written...**

**Sorry...I forgot to add hints in this chapter...WHOOPS! Oh well. There will be a bunch in the next chapter but I will only point out the obvious ones. You'll have to find others on your own :P**

**QUESTION TIME:**

**(1) Did you actually look up the cover art for Nancy Drew the Ghost of Thorton Hall?**

**(2) What light do Sensei and Garmadon have to shed?**

**(3) Why did the Lady in Black kidnap Nya of all people?**

**(4) Why would this phantom come back to life after five decades?**

**(5) Does Misako play an important role in this?**

**(6) Did you pick up a clue in the prologue?**

**(7) Are the ninja really crazy?**

**OKAY! My poll voting will end on my birthday instead! March 27th! Okay?**

**God bless :)**


	4. Some Background

**This is the chapter where two certain brothers come clean...supposedly.**

**I want to thank AreiaCananaid for editing this :D**

**OH MY GOSH! I'M SO EVIL xD **

**Me and my mom sent my dad out to go shopping (Our car broke and he uses his business truck) and made him find "Sweet Congi" I told him if he can't find it they must be out...let's just pray that he doesn't ask a store clerk or me and Mom are mincemeat.**

**WARNING: This chapter just has a bunch of clues and key parts to the story so...keep your mind razor-sharp!**

* * *

"Sit down. This is a long story." Garmadon told the five boys.

"Shoot. I can't stand long stories! Can you give us the context version?" Kai asked.

"No," Garmadon replied.

"Darn."

The ninja all sat around the table in their usual spots, waiting for the story to come.

**Flashback six decades ago...**

"Ancient Myths and Legends," Misako read aloud.

Misako was at the library with her two good friends, Garmadon and Wu. She had led them to the fiction section of the library because Misako had wanted to show the boys a cool book she had read when she had stumbled upon the book of 'Ancient Myths and Legends'.

"You like those things?" Wu asked, sounding surprised.

"You don't?"

"It's just a bunch of hooey." Garmadon chimed in.

Misako ignored the boys' opinions and walked over to one of the library's wooded table to set the book down. Flicking through the contents she went to the first story, "The Treasure of the Chicken?" she read, not believing that was actually a story.

"See? Like I said, hooey," Garmadon snapped.

Misako set her jaw, determined to find a story that Garmadon would like. She flipped through the stories, muttering to herself the names of the stories, "Well look at this one- The Legend of the Lady in Black," Misako held up the book showing a horrific looking woman with a pale face and wild yellow eyes dressed in all black.

The boys jumped back in horror, nearly toppling their chairs, "Misako! That thing is the scariest thing I've ever seen!" Wu exclaimed.

"It says here this phantom should be coming back to life in..." she scanned the text. "Ten years from today!" Misako jumped to her feet, "Do you see what this is?"

Garmadon shrugged, "It means the person who believes that goes to the mental hospital?" he asked, grinning.

"No! I scanned through the page and look." Misako pointed to one sentence, "The day she went missing her last words were 'I will come back for you, Ninjago. And you will pay for my pain.' after those words she was never seen or heard from again."

Wu swallowed hard and looked at his older brother for reassurance, "D...do you think it's...real?" he stuttered, sounding scared.

"Wu...are you kidding? Just a few seconds ago you were saying this was hooey." Garmadon rolled his eyes.

"No. You said that."

"Well you agreed with me."

Wu drew breath for a retort when Misako cut him off, "Stop it. Just think: what if the legend IS true? Should we prepare for her return or what?" Misako asked.

"I vote yes...and I guess Misako votes yes too," Wu said and raised his hand.

"I vote no. This is a MYTH hence the title Ancient MYTHS and Legends." Garmadon emphasized the word 'myth'.

"This isn't a myth; it's a legend. Well anyway it's two to one, we win!" Wu grabbed the book off the table and started for the library clerk to check out the book, Misako following close behind.

They didn't hear Garmadon muttered, "A legend that's based on a myth."

**Five years later...**

"Okay...five years until the Lady in Black comes so we have to be prepared at ALL costs." Wu said while pointed with a stick he had grabbed of the forest floor to a blackboard that had his doodles on his assumptions on what could happen.

"Don't you think we're getting too old for this?" Garmadon asked drumming his fingers on the table irritably. **(In this story the LEGOs can drum their fingers)**

"Well what do we have to lose if we prepare ourselves?" Wu asked.

"Our reputation?" Garmadon guessed, he whispered so that no one could hear but him, "And our dignity."

"We don't have one."

"Well we could make one!"

"You're becoming more and more impossible every day!"

The boys continued their fighting when Misako noticed a young girl walking about through the window...strangely dressed in black. Misako gasped and walked out to see this girl.

The girl turned around. Misako let out a silent sigh of relief, the girl wasn't the Lady in Black and didn't look scary like in the book, "Who are you?" Misako asked.

"I'm Onyx." the girl responded.

_Onyx is a BLACK gem,_ Misako thought, but quickly pushed that thought to the back of her mind, _I'm getting to paranoid._

"Who are you?" the girl asked.

"I'm Misako," she answered politely.

Misako called out to the boys that were in her house, once they walked out the door she introduced them to Onyx. After a few months the four people became best friends forgetting out the Legend of the Lady in Black...

**Four years later...**

As the children aged they abandon their preparation for the Lady in Black and went on to working on their school work and Spinjitzu. They had taught Misako it and she could always beat Wu.

After Misako learned Spinjitzu Onyx went missing. The three kids assumed she was busy with school like normal children.

Garmadon, Misako and Wu didn't see her again until Wu noticed strange footprints and showed them to Garmadon.  
They were headed to the forest so they could to meet Misako because they had gotten a break from their duties so they could have a nice picnic together.

"Wu...I'm sure it's nothing." he said, not wanting to ruin their first break in a long time, then saw the footprints, "Maybe it was an animal."

"What types of animals have THESE footprints?" Wu asked.

"Maybe it's a different species...they're migrating." Garmadon replied.

"This isn't an animal, no animal has this footprint!"

"Misako's waiting for us by the pond!" Garmadon complained, getting tiered of arguing about the footprint and anxious to meet his crush.  
"Will you forget about your love life for a second and actually LOOK at the footprints?!" Wu snapped.

Garmadon looked. "Okay...they are weird," he admitted.

The footprints looked like someone was staggering, but not; for the ground was barely disturbed by the light footprints marring its surface, like the person leaving them was floating.

The two boys followed them and it led to...the Lady in Black! She looked just like she did in the picture except...she had a familiar look and carried herself in a familiar way, "Onyx?" Wu stuttered.

The Lady in Black smiled evilly, "Don't you remember her last words?" she laughed manically and did it. She did it.

The Lady in Black blew something up in the back, and it was in… Ninjago City.

With that she took off, "She blew up Ninjago City!" Garmadon exclaimed.

"After her!" Wu darted after the Lady in Black down the steps of the monastery and into the woods.

A few seconds later she was gone and the boys went to Misako to tell her everything.

**Flashback done...**

"That's it? So Onyx is the Lady in Black?" Kai asked.

"No. That's only half of the story," Misako got ready for her half of the story.

"Is it just me or does she always have the other half of stories?" Kai asked in a slightly mordant tone of voice.

Sensei gave him a sideways glare and Kai; wisely, bit back the other half of his sarcastic remark.

**Flashback five decades ago...**

Misako was in the kitchen, humming to herself a little song as she packed her picnic basket with all of Garmadon, Wu and her favorite foods and drinks, a tea for Wu, pop for Garmadon and water for her. Her hummed song was cut short when there was a knock at her door.

She walked over to the door, wondering who it could be, "Hello?" Misako asked then about fainted. The Lady in Black was standing at the door...smiling.

"Why it's you, Misako," a smiled crept onto her ghastly face.

"What...what do you want?" Misako demanded, stuttering the first word before she gained confidence.

"Oh, nothing. I just want to tell you...stay away from Ninjago City," with that the Lady in Black seemed to vanish.

Misako didn't know what to do. She made her choice. She went to the picnic where she was supposed to meet Garmadon and Wu.

Misako arrived at the pond just in time to see the boys dashing into the little clearing. They were able to stop just in time as to not to fall into the pond.

"What happened to you?" Misako asked, noticing their pale features and scared eyes.

"The Lady in Black is real! Onyx is the Lady in Black!" Wu exclaimed.

Misako dropped her picnic basket, "You saw her too?" she queried.

"You mean you saw her?" Garmadon's red eyes widened.

"She told me to stay away from Ninjago City." Misako replied.

"It supposedly blew up. But when we went to see Ninjago City seemed fine..." his voice broke before he controlled his emotions and continued, "but the locals claimed there was a loud crash...and almost every person in Ninjago City is gone." Wu explained.

"So...she did come back for Ninjago...but why?" Misako asked.

"And another thing: Why did the Lady in Black say 'her' instead of 'my'?" Garmadon asked.

"Maybe we should leave this alone." Misako suggested.

And the two brothers nodded in agreement.

**Flashback over...for now…**

"So you just left her alone after that?" Zane asked.

"Yes," Misako answered.

"See guys? They left the Lady in Black alone and look? They lived to be old!" Jay bit his lip.

"Jay will you please cut that out? We're perfectly safe." Cole said and heaved a loud sigh, getting sick and tired of Jay's complaining.

"'Perfectly safe?!'" Jay almost yelled, "Almost all the people in Ninjago City went MISSING! MISSING Cole!" Jay held his face with his hands.

"Well it looks like Ninjago City made it and repopulated," Zane added.

"That story answered some questions, but left us more questions than we had to begin with," Lloyd complained.

"That's what happens when you get more information," Kai snickered.

"But still one of the million questions stays with us. Who IS the Lady in Black and why is she back?" Cole asked.

"That was TWO questions." Sensei teased.

"One question mark in the sentence," Cole retorted with a smirk.

* * *

**Thank me. No cliffhangers :P**

**QUESTION TIME!:**

**(1) Onyx was the Lady in Black then...but what about now?**

**(2) How will this information come in handy later?**

**(3) What does the Lady in Black have against Ninjago City?**

**(4) What "pain" was the Lady in Black talking about?**

**(5) Were you annoyed that this WHOLE chapter was mainly a bunch of clues?**

**(6) Are you trying to piece together the puzzle and throw out the misleading pieces?**

**(7) Can I come up with anymore questions?**

**(8) Ha! It looked like I did! Or did I...?**

**(9) Did you know the best way to hide is in plain sight?**

**CLUE TIME:**

**(1) The Lady in Black said "her" and not "my". Are there more than one people in on this? (That kind of was a question...)**

**(2) Look closely at my questions. There is a hint in one of them. Think about it! Look in the reviews. ZaneWalker's second review in this story will help.**

**(3) The Lady in Black meant mental pain. Not physical. So what did she go through? Try and think of the answers!**

**God bless :D**

**And again...I (and you should too) thank AreiaCananaid for editing :D**


	5. Cole and love? HA!

**THE POLL ENDED! Thanks for all your votes :D**

**I got the Ultra Sonic Radar LEGO Ninjago set for my birthday! YAY!**

**Again, thank AreiaCananaid for editing. I am really bad with passive voice thing. But guess what? I actually corrected it! After some intense observing (That's how I picked up most of my grammar skills) I will probably learn how to not have a passive voice.**

* * *

The five boys walked into their room after Sensei, Garmadon and Misako had told them the story, "We heard some of the history of the legend but...but we didn't get any answers! Just more questions," Kai fumed as he flopped on his bed on the top bunk, but forgetting he was on the lower bunk, "GAH! WHY DID I HAVE TO LOSE THAT BET WITH COLE AND SLEEP AT THE BOTTOM BUNK?! I HATE BOTTOM BUNKS!"

"Well maybe we should just walk around town to clear our heads. I heard that's the best way to get things done." Zane offered, hoping it would make Kai less testy.

The boys readily agreed and left to go walk around. 30 minutes of walking led through a park but none of them could get their minds off the Lady in Black—or Nya. Jay was talking his mouth off about his girl, and Kai was deep in thought on what was happening to his sister right at that moment and if she was okay.

"Jay." The said person stopped talking and looked towards the speaker, "Can you please talk about someone or something else?" Cole asked exasperated.

"Well if you were madly in love you'd think differently." Jay retorted.

Cole scoffed, "Me? Love? HA!" then he ran into a girl, "OW!" she fell to the ground and Cole helped her up, "Oh. I am so sorry! My friend here was..." he drifted off when the girl pushed some hair out of her face, he felt a blush heat his face as he noticed how beautiful she was.

"No. It's alright," she assured him and held out her hand, "I'm Aida," her face lighted up in a warm smile, making her even more beautiful.

Cole shook her hand, "I'm...I'm...I'm..." he couldn't find his words, all he could think about was the girl in front of him.

"Your Cole." Lloyd supplied, then snickered as he saw Cole's face turn a deeper shade of red in embarrassment.

"Yeah. I'm Cole. Nice to meet you." Cole continued to shake Aida's hand.

She cleared her throat awkwardly, "Well see you around," and walked off in the opposite direction.

Jay looked at Kai and winked. Kai got the message, "You and love? HA!" he grinned, "I am seriously doubting that right now."

"Aida's so pretty isn't she? She looks pretty smart too," Jay said making fun of Cole blush that was still on his cheeks.

Jay and Kai started to tease Cole then Kai added, "She can probably cook too."

Before Cole could open his mouth and protest Zane spoke up, "Something about her seems...off. Not many girls go up to Cole after those 5 girls made him lose it and made them face-plant on the ground, breaking their noses in the process."

Kai smiled, "Good one, Zane! I almost forgot about that!"

"No. I'm serious." Zane showed distance meaning he meant it.

"Aw come on, Zane! Cole will probably never see his one and only love and be a loner for the rest of his life!" Jay said the part about Cole being a loner a little louder.

"I'm not in love...she's just knocked me so hard—" Cole protested.

"She knocked the memory outta you to make Lloyd tell you what your name is?" Kai asked with a smirk.

"Uh...yes?" he said meekly.

"Cole...admit it. You like Aida." Lloyd teased.

"No. I won't admit it, because I don't like or love her!"

"You just did by not admitting you didn't like her." Zane butted in.

"YOU GUYS ARE SO BAD!"

"I know. That's why that copper thought we were insane…" Lloyd laughed so hard he couldn't finish his sentence so Kai did.

"And that is why he dragged us to the Mental Hospital so he could put us in a white room with a straight jacket!"

One of the boys (Cole to be specific) had said he had gotten tired of walking and decided they should get back to the Bounty to read more of that legend.

Kai found the legend and prepared to read it out loud:

"After the police went missing the people started to become even more worried. They locked themselves in their houses and wouldn't come out," Kai looked at Cole. He didn't seem to be listening, "and then a teenage detective named Nancy Drew stopped a woman named Anya from ruining her ex's castle." Kai changed the story to Nancy Drew: the Captive Curse.

All of the boys looked confused...except for Cole, "Earth to Cole?" Jay waved his hand over Cole's face; once he realized that Cole's element was earth he added, "No pun intended."

"He isn't listening." Jay reported, even though it was blatantly obvious by the way he was staring blankly at the wall.

"He didn't even notice you changed the ending to Nancy Drew and the Captive Curse." Zane added.

"COLE!" Lloyd lightly zapped him with lightning...just a little harder than he intended to making his hair look like Kai's, "Oh...oops?"

"WHAT DID YA DO THAT FOR?!" Cole asked.

"Well you're listening now." Jay shrugged.

Cole glared at the four guffawing boys and flattened his hair back to his normal style.

Once their mirth had subsided Kai continued, "As I was saying," Cole grinned sheepishly at him, "people locked themselves up and wouldn't come out for days. After a few weeks the Lady in Black appeared in the town saying this, 'You have hurt me once but now no more; in five decades Ninjago will be no more! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!'"

Lloyd stopped Kai from continuing, "Did you really just laugh evilly?"

Kai pouted, he had always wanted to laugh evilly but he had never gotten the chance, he composed himself, "It was in the book, so I did."

"You could have said, 'evil laughter'," Lloyd said.

"It would have ruined the feeling," he looked back at the book finding his place, he cleared his throat and continued. "After that the people started to worry, but then, when nothing happen for about a week they tossed the idea away. A loud boom was heard and—" Kai stopped reading then thought about it for a minute, his eyebrows knitted together.

"Kai, what is it?" Cole asked.

"Remember when Sensei told us about how he met Onyx?" Kai rubbed his chin.

"Yeah. So what?" Lloyd asked, not seeing any connections.

"But how could she have been at the monastery and the village at the same time unless..." Kai clarified, his voice trailing off before he finished his sentence.

Jay's eyes widened, "So that means the Lady in Black isn't in on this alone!" he put his hands on his face, and started muttering, "This is bad, this is really, really bad!"

"I sense this goes deeper than we think," Zane noted.

"Yes. But to what?" Kai asked.

"I actually know something about the Lady in Black." Lloyd said.

"WHAT?!" the four boys asked simultaneously and started to glare at him because he had withheld some information.

"She probably failed poetry in school," Lloyd said with a smile.

"That was very obvious," Zane shook his head and said. "I could write better in my sleep."

**Somewhere...**

A woman grabbed her phone and dialed a number, "Yeah, It's me. Code word: Black. Yes. I've made official contact."

Another voice was heard over the receiver, "Good. All is going to plan."

"I am going to get what I bargained for, right?"

"YES YOU'LL GET YOUR SHARE!" The voice on the other end of the line yelled.

The woman winced and held the phone away from her ear for a second, before returning it to her ear, "I don't like to do this, Brian."

"Just follow the plan. The ninja are walking straight into my trap," there was an air of smugness with the speaker said that.

There was a click and the phone conversation was over.

* * *

**This was another important part...and no. Kai didn't finish reading the legend...**

**Sorry this chapter was short...I had a time limit.**

**ARGH! MY SISTERS ARE RECITING MLP THE MAGICAL MYSTERY CURE TO ME D:**

**Thank AreiaCananaid for editing :D I also read through it to try to improve my writing**

**QUESTION TIME:**

**(1) What is REALLY behind the Legend of the Lady in Black?**

**(2) Who is this Brian?**

**(3) What was Zane sensing about Aida?**

**(4) Did you picture Cole with Kai's hair except black?**

**(5) Will Cole's love get in the way with his mission?**

**(6) Still...how does Misako fit into all this?**

**(7) How bad was the Lady in Black's poem/curse?**

**(8) How long has this legend really been going on?**

**(9) Will Onyx ever come back and confess what's going on?**

**(10) Who is the REAL mastermind behind this?**

**(11) What other side-plots does this story have?**

**C****LUE TIME!:**

**(1) Look closely at the code word in the last part (you probably already figured that out).**

**(2) This is kind of a mix of The Captive Curse and Shadow at the Water's Edge...but in the end it'll be completely different...maybe...**


	6. Mission: Humiliate Cole

**In the poem in the last chapter...it's okay that you said it was awful because I meant it as a joke if you didn't pick that up. So if you say it's horrible I give myself a pat on the back, "Good job, me! A person said your poem was horrible!" **

**I made it bad for several jokes I have in mind just to clear things up.**

**AreiaCananaid edited this and she did a very good job at it :)**

**Why did a bunch of mystery stories come out when I started to get a bunch of reviews?**

* * *

Jay bolted upright and banged his head on Zane's bed; he calmed his breath and whipped the sweat from his brow. He had a nightmare about Nya's kidnapper and the kidnapper was torturing Nya, he shuttered as the vivid images rushed through his memories.

"What a horrible dream," Jay said to himself, knowing he wouldn't be able to go back to sleep yet slipped out of the shared bedroom and went into the kitchen to grab a bite to eat when the phone rang. Jay jumped and bit back a scream, "Jay...it's just the phone, not the Lady in Black," he said to himself, only half convinced.

Jay slowly picked up the phone, wondering who could be calling at this late hour, and said, in a shaky voice, "H…hello?"

"Hi, Jay. I need to talk to Kai," Jay's eyes went wide and he about dropped the phone- it was Nya!

"NYA?! WHERE ARE YOU?! WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU?! WHA—" Jay was cut off from his stream of questions.

"Jay, I really wish I could tell you but let me talk to Kai," Nya said in a hushed tone of voice.

"But you know how he is when someone wakes him up!"

"Just listen."

Jay sighed and walked back to the bedroom, he quietly open the door and walked to where Kai was and shook his arm, "Kai! Wake up!" Jay whispered in his ear.

Jay found a pillow being shoved roughly in his face, "Go to Zane to deal with your nightmares," Kai mumbled half asleep.

"No! Kai! Listen!" Jay protested, silently relived that Kai had shoved a pillow in his face instead of his fist.

"If it's important you can tell me in the morning," Kai muttered, starting to pull his thin blanket over his head.

"But it is morning!" Jay whined.

"Well at breakfast. Now shut up and get back to bed." Kai rolled onto his stomach.

Jay wished that he had some Mariachi music he could play, for that was the only way Kai would wake up fast, he hated that type of music with a passion and he would always storm out of bed to turn off the radio and punch the person who instigated the playing of the music in the face.

Jay had one more card to play, "Nya's on the phone!" that got Kai up.

He shot out of bed and snatched the phone from Jay, somehow knowing where it was, "Hello?"

**~x~X~x~**

That morning, at breakfast, Jay felt his eyelids getting heavy and his head drooping, soon his head dropped in his food, for he was up since three listening to Kai read the rest of the legend.

"Jay, are you alright?" Misako asked patting Jay on the back. Jay slowly lifted his head and Sensei handed him a rag, bleary he took it and wiped his face off.

"What's wrong with you two? You seem distracted and tired," Zane observed as he looked at Kai and Jay.

Jay looked to Kai, a question in his eyes so Kai nodded giving him the 'go ahead' to speak, "NYACALLEDLASTNIGHTANDSHEGAVE USATIPBUT—"

Jay started to say very fast and very loud, but Garmadon cut him off, "Hold on! You got to say words, not a bunch of words mixed into one and if you could tone if down a few hundred decibels. Now what did you say?"

Jay took a deep breath and spoke slowly and in a normal tone of voice, "Nya called last night and she told us what to do and now we have a few leads."

Lloyd looked interested, "Well what did she say?"

"She said we have to meet someone at the Mountain of a Million Steps at midnight."

"Say what?" Cole asked, not believing a word he said.

"You do know what that means, don't you?" Zane asked.

"Yes I do! It means that person has the opportunity to shove all of us off a cliff!" Jay exclaimed.

"Yeah...that sounds bad. But we've dropped a cliff before." Lloyd shrugged trying to look at the brighter side.

"And landed in water," Jay reminded him.

**~x~X~x~**

The ninja headquarters was out of food so Cole had volunteered to go grocery shopping, the main reason to try to find Aida. Ah. Young love. Isn't sweet?

He looked at the list Sensei had given him, he read it aloud to help it get in his momory better, "Steak, cheese, fruit, green beans, chili, orange juice, milk, yogurt, chicken, lettuce, lemons," he continued down the list when he got to something he never heard before, "Unsweetened Octa? What in the world of Ninjago is that?" Cole asked himself then noticed the handwriting. It was Jay's.

"Very funny, but I will get you back," he said to himself, he shoved the list back in his pocket, he was just about to look up when he ran into...Aida, of all people, and knocked her to the ground. Instead of letting Cole help her up she got up herself, Cole couldn't help the blush coming to his features.

"We should really stop meeting like this." Aida laughed and picked up the contents of her basket that had fallen onto the ground.

"Oh...sorry," Cole apologized trying not to laugh.

"What's so funny?" Aida managed to say between laughs.

"Why are we laughing?" Cole asked, laughing harder.

"I was laughing because you were."

"I was laughing because you were, too."

Before the duo knew it they were both laughing their heads off.

"Okay. We should stop laughing; people are staring," Aida chuckled.

"You're probably right." Cole agreed.

"Maybe I'll see you around, then," Aida smirked and added. "Don't knock me over next time."

Cole nodded then mustered up all his courage (and dignity) to say, "I know this sounds weird but...you wanna come over—" before he could finish Aida interrupted him.

"Sure, I'd love to. I'll be there at four. Just lower the anchor, " Aida winked and walked off.

Cole glanced at her retreating figure, once it was out of sight he went to get the supplies.

**~x~X~x~**

Cole walked happily back to the Bounty. The ship was in the water near the dock they had built for it when the engine had broke from the Stone Warriors after they had evacuated Ninjago City.

"Hey, Cole," Jay greeted Cole. "Did you get the Unsweetened Octa for me?" Jay laughed.

Cole sneered at Jay, "Very funny," he looked around. Without Nya pushing them to clean, the Bounty was a little messy. Misako managed to clean up some but she just wasn't as good as Nya.

"We need to clean this place up...Aida's coming over." Cole told Jay hesitantly trying not to get Jay to tease him even more.

"Have you ever heard of the song, 'Grenade'?" Jay taunted.

"Jay! We just met and she's a nice girl..." Cole drifted off, a dreamy look entered his eyes.

"She's nice, she can probably cook, she's probably not dumb...should I go on?" Jay listed the things with his fingers **(If they can drum their fingers they can list things off of them).**

"Just don't embarrass me."

"Like what Kai and Zane did when I wore perfume to impress Nya?" Jay asked.

"Yeah. Just don't."

"Don't worry, buddy. We will do our best to make Aida laugh."

"Why?" Cole asked, getting a little suspicious of his brother.

"Women appreciate men who make them laugh."

The five boys spent the rest of the hours before Aida came cleaning up the whole Bounty 'til it shined. Eighty percent of them (Meaning everyone but Cole) were complaining the entire time.

The boys finished in the nick of time when a knock was heard at the door Cole straightened out his ninja tunic and went to answer it.

Once he was out of earshot Jay, Kai, Zane and Lloyd huddled together in a circle, Jay spoke, "Alright, team. Mission: Humiliate Cole is a go!"

They had thought up this mission when the four ninja, Kai, Lloyd, Zane and Jay, were on the deck, cleaning.

They smiled evilly and said together, "Ninja go!"

Cole and Aida were talking on the deck when Zane walked out, "Hello, Aida." he said trying his best to hide his gigantic smile.

"Hi...what's your name?" Aida asked.

"Zane Julien. Here," he passed the bowl he was holding into her hands and gave her a spoon, "try some of Cole's famous chili."

She tentatively dipped her spoon into the chili and put it in her mouth. Her face expression changed to a happy and bubbly to a disgusted face but she actually managed to swallow the chili, "Wow, Cole. Your chili is the most...er...it's full of taste," she said trying to stop herself from reflexively gagging.

"I am surprised you actually swallowed Cole's chili. When Kai swallows he turns green and vomits," Zane noted.

That made Aida's food come back up, her checks bulged and she put her hand to her mouth. Aida ran to the side and threw up in the water.

"Zane, you're so dead," Cole shook his fist at Zane.

"I do not believe it is possible to murder a nindroid." Zane smirked smugly (An OOC smirk) and walked off.

Aida walked back to Cole.

From Jay's eye view he seemed to be apologizing.

Zane picked his walkie-talkie up, "Lloyd, your turn, over."

"Message received; over and out." Lloyd's voice said.

It was obvious if he didn't start laughing he was going to die.

"What's with the over and out thing?" Jay asked on his end.

"Only people with a higher IQ than Lady Gaga can understand things like that," Kai's voice responded **(I AM SO SORRY IF THAT OFFENDED YOU).**

"HEY!" Jay's voice retorted, "That was rude."

Lloyd walked up to Aida with his hands behind his back. Aida turned around, her face instantly distrustful when she noticed his hands holding something behind his back, "If you have any more of Cole's chili...no thanks," she said.

"No," he brought his hands up showing that he wasn't holding anything, a silent sigh of relief came from Aida, "I'm Lloyd," he smiled and tossed a devious side-glace to Cole who was fuming.

"Oh. Hi," Aida smiled back.

"Did Cole ever tell you about that one time when he—" Cole put his hand over Lloyd's mouth.

"Hush, you pipsqueak."

Lloyd wriggled out of Cole's grasp, "Okay, I guess I won't tell Aida about the time when you acted more Kai-y than Kai acts which is crazy, hot-headed and annoying," he gave a triumphant glance to Cole.

"You did?" Aida asked.

"I was bored of being cooped up on the Dark Island," Cole explained half-heartedly, glaring daggers at Lloyd. If looks could kill he would be squished with a huge rock.

"I guess any ninja would be sick and tired of hiding from Stone Warriors."

"Yeah—wait," Cole shook his head, "How did you know that?"

"I...uh...assumed."

Kai was next. He walked up with a barely controlled smile, Cole glared at him, not knowing what he was going to do.

Kai, surprisingly, started sashaying over to Cole, Cole recognized that dance and growled, he was so going to kill them when Aida left.

Aida gave a questioning glance in his direction. Kai stopped his dance walking to speak, "What, you didn't tell her that you love to dance?"

She turned and looked towards Cole, "You do?"

"Uh, yeah," he answered meekly, guessing what Kai was going to do next and wishing he was someplace else.

"That's cool," she said fluttering her eyelashes.

"Thanks," he managed to say.

Kai, of course, ruined the moment, "You know Aida, Cole made this dance himself," Aida turned an admiring gaze towards Cole. "And since I know he won't show you it I have taken it upon myself to repeat exactly what he did and say exactly what he is. So any mistakes are from Cole himself, because I am only copying what he did the day his father came to watch him."

Kai started to dance, it started out amazing but then Kai mimed slipping and landing ungracefully on his butt, compared to all the other graceful twists, flips and turns he was doing before, before Kai stood up again he spoke, "That was deliberate!" He stood up and faked slipping again on his face, "So was that!"

He 'fell' a couple more times, every time saying he did it on purpose. Once he got up again from his latest 'fall' he spoke with an evil grin given to Cole and repeated what he had said that day, "My back is killing me from all those falls..." Kai made his voice trail off as glanced at the ground, he crouched down, miming rubbing his fingers on the deck, he rubbed them together, smelt them and tasted them, he made his eyes grow wide and tried and almost failed to look mad, he fake yelled and stood from his crouched position, "KAI! I AM GOING TO KILL YOU WHEN I GET MY HANDS AROUND YOUR SNEAKING NECK! THEN ONCE I DO THAT I WILL MAKE YOU'RE INNARDS YOU'RE OUTARDS!" He held up a fist in mock anger, although it was easy to see that he was, on the inside, laughing his head off.

Aida started to laugh and Cole glared and mouthed, 'I will actually make good on that treat if you keep on going.'

Aida spoke, "He really did that? I kind-of seems out of character."

Kai smirked, ignoring the earlier warning, "Yep! As I said before, he was showing his dad his new dance moves and he totally messed them up." He sniggered and started sashaying away humming a little song, pay no heed to Cole's glare.

Lastly there was Jay.

Jay skipped up to Aida, "Hi, Aida. Guess what?" Jay asked.

"What?" she asked, still amused by Kai's performance of Cole's embarrassing moment.

"Cole and Aida sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G! First comes love, and then comes marriage, and then comes a—" Jay was going to say the next verse but Cole covered his mouth and gave him an 'I'm-gonna-kill-you' look.

Jay shrugged and walked off.

The boys met up in the bridge, rapturous smiles plastered on their faces and high-fived.

"Mission: Humiliate Cole is a success!"

* * *

**AreiaCananaid did Kai reenacting Cole's dance xD**

**QUESTION TIME!:**

**(1) What chapter should I include Nya in?**

**(2) In the whole show of Ninjago what is your favorite quote? My favorite is, I'm back, baby!-Lord Garmadon. That one sentence made me die of laughter. I sometimes just watch that episode to hear him say that xD**

**(3) Are you suspecting Aida?**

**(4) Aren't you itching to know what happens next?**

**(5) Were you offended by the Lady Gaga joke? If you were I apologize profusely.**

**CLUE TIME:**

**(1) Jay's dream probably has no significance to the story**

**(2) Notice Jay's reference of the song 'Grenade'. It's actually a clue. If you don't know the song, look it up and think about what the lyrics mean...yet another clue.**


	7. Mountain of a Million Steps

**Thank AreiaCananaid for editing this :D **

* * *

Cole marched up to the bridge, his face a picture of anger, to the four boys who were silently celebrating on their successful mission. If he was Kai there would have been smoke trailing off him and he would have been hissing steam.

They made sure to wipe the grins off their faces before Kai spoke, his voice sounded like a kid would when their moms caught them in the cookie jar, "Oh...uh...hi?"

"Don't 'hi' me! You made me look like an idiot!" Cole furiously turned to Jay and almost yelled, "You said you wouldn't humiliate me!"

"No, I said I'd make her laugh and she laughed alright!" Jay smirked.

"Yeah, at me- not with me," Cole growled.

"Like I said, women appreciate men who make them laugh and if she lives with you she's gonna adore you," he fluttered his eyelashes in a very girly way.

"JAY!" Cole yelled, going as red as Kai's suit.

"Cole, calm down; it's not like the world is about to end, Zane said as he patted Cole on the shoulder.

"I noticed Cole invited a girl," Sensei observed as he walked in the bridge.

"Sensei...not you too!" Cole moaned, bringing his hands up to his face and slowly pulling them down.

"No. I just wanted to let you know something strange has been sighted at Jamanakai Village," Sensei answered.

"Aw great, just what we need. Fighting the Lady in Black without any preparation," Jay slapped his forehead in frustration.

"I didn't say it was the Lady in Black," Sensei said.

"Yeah, but it could," Jay muttered.

**~x~X~x~**

The five ninja arrived at Jamanakai Village on the Ultra-Dragon to find everyone in their houses. The air was crisp and the village seemed deserted, no one was out. The village was deathly silent; the only sound was the wind moaning through the barns. The village had an eerie feel to it; it reminded them of a ghost-town.

"Um, is anyone here?" Kai called out taking out his Elemental Blade and cautiously jumped off the back of the Ultra-Dragon.

After walked a couple yards from their dragon, something jumped on Kai, it had a crazy African like mask on. Nevertheless, it was very scary.

"EEEK!" Kai screamed and was about to incinerate that person. The wearer of the mask took itoff quickly seeing that is was the only way he could live without burning to death.

The person under the mask was Lloyd.

"LLOYD! WHAT THE HECK?!" Kai demanded.

"You're so jumpy! Golly, it was just a joke," Lloyd shook his head then held the mask up.

"Where on Ninjago did you get that hideous thing?" Kai inquired, disgusted at the offending mask.

"I found it over there," he pointed to a dark alley.

"Why did you go in that dark alley?" Cole asked, wondering why he would do something so stupid.

"I thought I saw a flash of something silver so I went to check it out. I guess I was wrong," Lloyd explained. "I found this mask instead!" he held up the mask in front of him and waved it around, then something caught his eye. He looked at the inside of the mask, for there was something lodged in it.

He reached in there and took it out- it was a note. It read:

_'Bring Misako with you when you go to the Mountain of a Million Steps'_.

"Why would that person want Misako?" Jay wondered aloud after all the ninja huddled around Lloyd to get a look at the note.

"So the evil bad guys can kill six people instead of five," Cole answered.

"Cole, are you going paranoid, now?" Kai asked grinning, finding it ironic that the guy that's supposed to be as solid as rock would be the second to go paranoid.

"No, I'm just saying," he said while rolling his eyes.

"What strange sightings did the locals spot?" Jay asked ignoring the topic at hand.

Kai glared at Lloyd, "Maybe it was Mister Prankster here."

Lloyd shrugged and accidentally threw the mask at a local that had stepped out of his house. The local started to yell at them angrily in Japanese.

** ~x~X~x~**

The five boys flew back to the Bounty where Aida was waiting for them on the deck. Kai and Jay exchanged mischievous glances, "I guess she came back for you." Kai snickered.

Cole tried his best to ignore his friends' pestering about his very obvious first crush.

Cole about fell off the Ultra-Dragon when he went to see Aida, "Aida...I am SO sorry about what happened today. It's just that—" he started to apologize but Aida stopped him.

"No, Cole, I had a nice time." she wore her usual warm smile that lit her face up.

Kai, Lloyd and Jay were about to explode with laughter, Zane on the other hand thought the current scene was quite cute.

Aida stayed for a while longer. After everyone started talking to her Zane dismissed his weird feeling whenever he was around her because almost everyone believed it was a glitch.

"Well have a nice day," Aida said getting up when her phone rang. She looked at the caller ID, "Can you give me a second?" Aida asked and walked out.

Zane whispered to Kai that he sensed Cole thought she was already dating according to the look on his face.

Aida looked around the empty hallway she had come into and answered the phone, "Yes?"

"What information have you found out?" a voice asked sounding mad.

"Brian, I'm building up trust. The white one is still a tad suspicious. I can't make my move just yet or my cover will be blown," Aida hissed angrily.  
"Well pick up the pace," the voice on the other line said crossly.

"I'm doing this at top speed. One trusts me completely and so far, he's the weakest," an evil grin tugged on Aida's face.

"Look, Miss Davis, you have three more weeks and you'll find yourself behind bars and no hope for your share. Go after Misako and her husband, when you get those you'll be home free," Brian snapped.

"I'm getting there," Aida snarled and hung up the phone before the voice on the other end could snap back at her.

"Look here, Brian. If I don't help you with this you will never get her back," Aida said to herself as if talking to Brian.

'Aida, this is wrong. Granted, your brother won't be able to go to college but living in lies? Is that the way you want to live your life?' Her conscience started bugging her but she pushed it to the back of her mind, "Come on. You can't back out now. Not now, you're so close."

"Aida?" Zane called walking behind her. Aida stuffed her phone in her purse.

"Oh, hi Zane," Aida tried her best to sound nonchalant.

"Is something the matter?" Zane asked sounding a mix of suspicion and concern.

"No, everything's just fine, tell the others I had to leave," with that Aida's false smile returned to her face and she walked off.

Zane did his best to ignore his nagging senses telling him that something was off about that girl.

'She seems like a good match for Cole and she seems so innocent...but anyone is capable of lying.' Zane thought, but his personality made him push that to the back of his mind.

Zane walked in where his four teammates were sitting, "Aida had to go somewhere; however she didn't specify where she was going," he told his teammates.

"You could have just said, 'Hey, Aida left but she didn't tell me where she was going'." Kai remarked.

"That sentence only had one less word." Zane answered confused.

"But it was in modern English." Jay quipped when a mouse scurried across his lap, "GAH! IT'S ANOTHER MOUSE! THOSE FEEDER MICE ARE REPRODUCING LIKE COCKROACHES!" he screamed.

"That is incorrect logic; the Bounty had gotten shot with one of the Overlord's guns and destroying all the feeder mice in the process." Zane corrected.

"How do you know the feeder mouses didn't survive!" Jay retorted, grabbing it by its tail.

"Mice, Jay. 'Mouses' is incorrect grammar," Zane corrected again.

Jay shook his head and heaved a loud sigh; he looked at the mouse in his hand, an evil grin spread across his face as he brought his left hand up close to the mouse's stomach. A surge of power sprang from his hand and he electrified the mouse, "That is what you get for trying to scare me!"

He tossed the dead mouse into the garbage shoot.

"What time is it? We're gonna have to kidnap Misako to take her to the Mountain of a Million Steps, in a couple of hours," Cole noted.

"We don't really have any clocks." Lloyd replied when he took a second to look around.

Jay yawned, "If we're going to stay up until midnight we'd better get some sleep," with that he walked to the bedroom.

"Good idea," Cole looked at Zane, "wake us up at eleven-thirty."

At eleven-thirty Zane shook everyone awake, "We should get Misako," he said.

The five boys didn't kidnap Misako like they planned but instead told her what happened and she agreed to go.

They arrived at the Mountain of a Million steps.

"I guess we have to climb all the way up a million steps." Kai complained still grouchy from being woken up. He was not a morning person **(I couldn't imagine Kai as a morning person**), he was a night owl, he did his best work at night.

"Unless the person is a minute late...which, with my calculations, is less than four percent," Zane answered.

"Now we have to listen to Jay's babbling for the next four hours." Cole sighed.

**~x~X~x~**

"Eight-hundredth step...eight-hundred-one...eight-hundred-two...eight-hundred-three—" Jay had been counting the steps for the past three hours when Cole cut him off.

"Jay, do you really have to count the steps?" Cole continued to climb.

"Yes."

"Well stop, your voice is grating on my nerves."

Jay pouted, but continued to count the steps silently.

Kai finally got sick of climbing, "ALRIGHT! Trash this!" he snapped hotly, he started to do Spinjitzu and he got up the steps much more quickly.  
Zane shook his head at Kai's impatience as everyone else; they all did Spinjitzu to catch up with Kai.

The five others caught up with Kai and found him looking at, at a safe distance, a man with a black cape that was blowing in the strong wind that had picked up since they were so high up.

Kai turned around to see his four teammates and Misako, "There," Kai pointed to the man.

The five ninja showed up first insisting Misako stay back just in case something didn't go right or if it was a trap.

"I see you have finally arrived," the man had an old, musky voice that seemed a little sad.

"Yeah, it would have been a whole lot easier if we didn't have to climb up all those steps," Kai retorted boldly.

"You are two hours, fifty-nine minutes and twenty seconds late," the man said firmly still having a sad tint to his voice.

"Like our friend said, there aren't three steps. Stop beating around the bush," Cole stopped himself from walking towards the man.

Cole didn't need to walk up to him because the man turned around. He looked old but was well-dressed, "I see you have followed almost all of my requests, but you didn't bring Misako," he snapped.

Misako stepped out of the shadows that had been concealing her, "So you did bring her, eh?" the man asked.

"Yes. Now what do you want?" Zane asked.

"A trade. I'm sure you'd want your beloved sister back," the man smiled and moved from his spot to reveal Nya tied and gagged.

"NYA!" Jay screamed and ran forward but Zane held him back and whispered, "If you try to get her I sense something ugly will happen."  
Jay took Zane's advice but sneered at the man.

"A trade: Misako for your sister," the man looked at the five boys expectantly.

They all exchanged glances. Nya seemed to be violently shaking her head in a way that said: 'Don't-do-it'.

Kai almost accepted before Zane tapped him on the shoulder and shook his head, "Not yet," Kai said, "We have to have some time to think about it."

The man seemed to think for a moment before answering, "Fine, you have a week before you choose- or this girl will die," with that the man grabbed Nya and jumped off the side of the mountain.

"OH MY GOSH! HE COMMITED SUICIDE!" Lloyd screamed and led his mother and teammates to look down where the man jumped, but he was nowhere to be seen. The clouds were too thick.

"What do we do now?" Cole asked.

"I don't know," Jay was far too depressed to use his lightning fast mind to think of ideas.

But Kai was too stubborn to give up, and his ingenuity always helped in a situation like this, "I have an idea," he said turning to Zane. "I need to talk to your father."

Zane looked confused, "Why?"

"I'll explain later. Let's just get back to the Bounty," Kai answered.

* * *

**NOPE! This story isn't almost over. A sub-plot that you know nothing about is almost over xD**

**QUESTION TIME:**

**(1) What is Kai's plan and why does he want to talk to Doctor Julien? Think about it!**

**(2) Why did the man sound so sad?**

**(3) Why did the man want Misako?**

**(4) Why was Nya violently shaking her head?**

**(5) Where did the man go?**

**(6) Will Zane trust his instincts and draw Aida out?**

**CLUE TIME:**

**(1) Aren't love triangles fun to write but not fun to read?**

**(2) The man sounded sad.**

**(3) To make sense of clue two, look at the first clue. **


	8. Forgot What I Was Gonna Name This One

**Thanks for editing, AreiaCananaid!**

* * *

The five ninja and Misako trudged down the steps, earlier Zane had tried to use Spinjitzu to get down, but that had failed. The steps were too narrow and too steep- Zane had lost his balance; if Cole hadn't grabbed him he would have fallen down the mountainside.

Kai seemed to be planning his...plan while walking down the steps; Jay was once again counting the steps down. Cole was about to yell at him when a smile tugged at his face, "Does anyone know how to get down faster?" he asked.

"Yeah, I do," Lloyd replied with a smile, knowing where this was going, for he and Cole had talked about it the first time he had climbed the mountain.

"How?" Jay asked, stopping his monotonous counting.

"Three ways: One: Fall. Two: Grow wings or three: Hold Kai down and use him as a skate board," Cole explained. "I personally think that skateboarding on Kai is the best."

"It does sound the best," Zane commented.

"HEY!" Kai snapped, "Just because you are jealous of _my_ beautiful face doesn't give you the right to mangle it on stairs."

The five boys argued all the way down the steps making Misako wonder how the guys could argue about using Kai as a skateboard for four hours.

"The last step!" Jay exclaimed happily when they FINALLY got to the bottom step. Jay jumped on the ground and kissed it.

"Moron," Kai said as he picked Jay up by the back of his ninja suit. "I think it would have been more agreeable for us to have used you as the skate board."

Jay wiggled out of Kai's grasp, plopped down on the ground and said, "I think we just did our exercise today, my legs are killing me!"

"Walking up and down two-million steps is good enough for me. Maybe that'll get Sensei to let us skip training," Lloyd said hopefully.

"I doubt it," Kai mumbled.

"I wonder what he is thinking right now; six members of our team are missing," Zane looked at Jay and sat down on the dirt with him to regain his bearings.

Kai blinked, "OH YEAH! We forgot to tell your dad, Sensei and Garmadon. They probably think something happened to us."

"Well at least we missed breakfast; it was Cole's turn to cook," Jay grinned and looked at Cole.

"Rudeness," Cole said and turned his head away and held it a an arrogant manner.

** ~x~X~x~**

Garmadon paced the floor in front of Wu, who was sitting on the floor calmly. He was worried for his wife and son. They had been gone for a while and the worst part was that he didn't even know where they were.

"I'm sure they are fine," Sensei said and sipped his tea when a knock was heard at the door.

Doctor Julien, who was tinkering with a new invention on the table, got up off his chair. He was worried for his son but he knew he could take care of himself and if he was with his teammates, no, brothers, then he was even more safe. He darted to the door to find...the mailman.

"Took you long enough," the mailman grumbled. "Here's your mail." He passed the letters to him and walked away to his bicycle and rode off.

Doctor Julien looked through the mail. One letter had no stamp or return address, "What's this?" he asked to himself and opened the letter. The second he opened it he passed out.

**~x~X~x~**

The door opened, Aida heaved a deep sigh and looked at the Lady in Black next to her, "Go on, take him away," the Lady in Black looked at Aida.

"I know you don't want to do this...but you know your brother will die if you don't," the Lady in Black gave a sympathetic glance at Aida and dragged Doctor Julien away mumbling something about men needing to lose some weight.

"Alright, Aida, get your act on," Aida said clearing her throat. She ruffled her hair and crinkled her clothes a bit and pretended to frantically bang on the door.

"HELP! HELP! HELP!" she screamed.

**~x~X~x~**

Sensei and Garmadon heard the urgent cry and dashed to the door, "What wrong, young lady?" Sensei asked.

"The Lady...in...Black...she—" before Aida could finish she pretended passed out when a man pretended to knock her on the head and dashed off before either of the brothers could say a word or see his face.

It turned out Aida was a brilliant actress because the two brothers bought her act and hurried her inside and onto a couch.

**~x~X~x~**

The ninja finally got to their destination and opened the door.

Jay was the first one to enter and as he did he slipped on a wet substance and fell flat on his face, "OW!"

Zane bent down, not to help Jay up but to examine the liquid Jay had slipped on, "This is not water," he stated shaking his head.

"Is it tea?" Kai asked helping Jay up then 'accidentally' let go of Jay's hand and he slipped back in the liquid.

"HEY!"

"This is no tea. I have never seen this type of substance. It is either invented by aliens or someone invented this without releasing it to the public," Zane scooped up some of the substance but it immediately evaporated.

"Aliens, Zane? Really?" Cole asked crossing his arms.

"Aliens probably do not exist so someone must have invented this without releasing it to the public. But why? We should take this to a laboratory to have this tested," Zane got up from the ground.

"Does anyone know where to find a lab?" Lloyd asked.

"Who knows? It could take as long as it did when we had to find the library, where this case started," Kai answered.

"That was really long," Jay grumbled.

"Speaking of which, I think we should hear more of the legend," Cole said.

"Well I know the rest so I can tell you," Jay smiled.

"Maybe we should not stand here at the doorstep talking and get inside," Misako suggested.

When they walked inside Sensei walked out to greet his students, "I see you have come back from your little adventure." He added, "We have been worried about you."

"Come on! Have you ever needed to worry about us?" Jay asked.

"Yes. Remember that time when—" Sensei began but Kai cut him off.

"Alright, point taken. See ya," he quickly walked further into the Bounty to avoid Sensei bringing up a stupid stunt that they pulled.

Jay sat down to tell everyone the rest of the legend: "Where did Kai stop, again?" he asked.

"The loud boom," Cole replied.

"Ah, yes. A loud boom was heard around the Ninjago City area. The city was pretty muchly—" Jay started but Kai interrupted him.

"'Pretty muchly'?"

Jay shrugged, "Pretty MUCH empty. The city repopulated. THE END," he finished.

"Jay, you are probably the WORST storyteller since Professor Layton!" Lloyd complained.

"OFFENSIVE!" Jay pouted.

"You didn't tell them the end. I looked up the updated version, don't you remember?" Kai asked.

"OH YEAH! Well here's the revised version: It was strange that once the city repopulated, a man fell in love with a woman. But once he learned she was married...he swore revenge and ran away never to be seen again. THE END?" Jay tried to tell the story.

"You are still the worst storyteller since Professor Layton." Lloyd commented.

"You left out a bunch of parts but you did the context version. AND you forgot the poem!" Kai teased.

"NO! NOT ANOTHER POEM COMPOSED BY THE LADY IN BLACK! NOOOOOOOOO!" Zane yelled falling to his knees and covering his ears with his hands, he loathed the Lady in Black's poems.

"But this isn't written by the Lady in Black," Kai told him.

"It isn't?"

"No. It goes like this: 'You and your family will go down in flames'," Jay recited the 'poem'.

"That doesn't even rhyme," Cole cocked his eyebrow.

"I guess no one was good at writing poems a really long time ago," Lloyd shrugged. "I bet Kai is a better poet then them."

"I am."

**~x~X~x~**

Garmadon, who had heard Zane's dramatic 'no' had dashed in the bridge where the ninja team and Misako was sitting and Kai was free-versing a poem that he made up.

"Where have you been! We've been walking the floor wondering what happened to you!" he scolded.

"What? We had a time limit and even though we walked up a million steps really quickly we were two hours, fifty-nine minutes and twenty seconds late." Lloyd retorted.

"You counted?"

"No, the guy we met counted and we took his word for it since we have no clocks whatsoever," Jay replied.

"We should really get some," Zane made a mental note to go to the store and get a few clocks.

"I need to talk to Doctor Julien; a plan I have in mind," Kai piped up suddenly remembering his plan.

"I thought he was outside," Garmadon told him.

"But...we were outside for a few minutes and didn't see him," Jay cocked his head.

"WHAT?! HE'S MISSING?!"

**~x~X~x~**

Doctor Julien woke to find himself chained to a pole next to someone, "Nya?" he asked, seeing her face.

"Yeah." Nya looked at him, "They got you too?"

"Yes. I forgot how I got here though," Doctor Julien answered truthfully.

Aida walked in with a food tray, "Look, I didn't want to do this," she said.

Nya sneered, "You deceived everyone and Cole thinks you like him! You are no better than swine," she tugged on her chains.

Aida's face hardened, "Look, girl," she grabbed Nya's chin, "I don't want to hurt you but I will do what I must to do this job," she hissed and let go of Nya's chin and loosened the chains enough so the prisoners could eat, but not escape.

* * *

**Professor Layton (If you didn't know) is a horrible guardian who solves mysteries and puzzles. Whatever he sees reminds him of a puzzle and FORCES you to solve it D:**

**That's the only thing I dislike about the Professor Layton games and why I like Nancy Drew PC games better...the puzzles in THAT game actually are relivant to the case.**

**Sorry I had to make Aida lie in the last chapter. The real story of Aida's brother will be revealed in a while.**

**I am also sorry this chapter was kind of useless besides the fact that Doctor Julien was kidnapped and everyone in the Legend of the Lady in Black is an awful poet.**

**I'm bored of writing clues and questions so you can scan the chapter for clues now until I want to do the CLUE TIME and QUESTION TIME again :P**


	9. More Backstory (Part One of Two)

**Did you miss me? **

**Audience, "NAH! YOUR LAST CHAPTER SUCKED!"**

**Darn...well this chapter will be a whole lot more interesting and I will do my best to bring an end to this really important backstory! **

**Do you think I'm keeping these characters in character?**

**Thank AreiaCananaid for editing :D**

* * *

Now that Doctor Julien was gone Kai didn't know how to make his plan work. He told his brothers of his plan and Zane offered to help but he admitted he didn't know too much about it, so they just left it alone.

The ninja, Sensei, Misako and Garmadon were in the living room when the older people had even MORE light to shed on the case.

"Why didn't you tell us that sooner?!" Jay asked, exasperated.

Garmadon spoke, "We didn't know if we should tell you because we thought you wouldn't pursue the matter further."

"And we didn't think it'd be relevant to the case," Misako answered when Sensei cleared his throat ready to tell another story of woe.

**Flashback...forty years ago**

Misako and Garmadon had been married for about four years, their anniversary was in a month, so Misako went to town looking for a card. 'It always helps to be prepared,' she thought to herself. She found a small shop that sold every single type of card. She walked to the anniversary section of the store and was about to pick up a card that seemed appealing when a random guy whizzed past her knocking her to the floor.

"OH MY GOSH! I AM SO SORRY!" the man apologized, halting in his mad dash.

"It's okay," Misako replied and picked herself up off the ground.

An awkward silence passed between them before the man spoke up, knowing that something had to be said.

"I'm Lukas," he held out his had

"Misako," Misako said, smiling warmly and shook his hand.

Misako and Lukas became good friends within a few weeks but Lukas felt attracted to her and decided he wanted to go a little farther than friends.

"Misako...I have something to tell you," Lukas said to her.

"You can tell me when you meet my husband. He's a little rough around the edges but he's a really sweet guy. So is his brother!" Misako said and started randomly babbling about her amazing family.

'She's...married?' Lukas thought miserably, but agreed to meet with her husband and brother-in-law.  
"Come tonight at 7. Does that sound okay to you?"

"That sounds fine to me," he said, hiding his disappointment.

**~x~X~x~**

Later that night, while he was getting ready to visit Misako, he heard a light knock on the door. Confused, he went to answer it.

When Lukas opened it, he saw a woman with a white face and crazy looking red eyes (In other words, she was the Lady in Black). He gasped in horror, took a step back and yelled, "WHO ARE YOU?!"

The woman rolled her eyes but quickly changed her mood, "Look, Lukas, I know you love Misako," she smiled and seemed to float around Lukas.

"Y...yeah? So?" he asked nervously, turning every time the creepy lady circled around him.

The Lady in Black smiled deviously, "I know a lot of things. I know what you're thinking as well. You want to kill Misako's husband then his brother so she'll marry you."

Lukas looked shocked and backed away slightly, "How do you know that?! I would never do that even if I did go a little crazy."

The Lady in Black stroked Lukas's cheek letting him notice her beautiful nails that were painted black, "Like I said, sweetie, I know many things. But wouldn't you love to kill Garmadon? Doesn't love come at a price?" she asked sounding sympathetic.

"But why are you telling me this?" Lukas demanded trying not to give into this woman's offers...or whatever she was offering.

"I can help you; Misako's husband is an evil man. He wants to turn the world in his own image- including Misako making her evil. Misako is too blinded by love to see that," the Lady in Black batted her eyelashes in a flirtatious manner.

Even though this woman seemed like the scariest person he'd ever me, she had a pretty-ish look to her face making him want to listen.

"But why would you want to help me?" Lukas asked sounding more interested.

The Lady in Black smiled, "Well you see, I love to help people. That's what I do: to help the world be a better place," even though that sounded like the biggest whopper Ninjago had ever heard, Lukas bought her act.

"Yes! You will help me kill Misako's husband!" Lukas was possessed by love and was too blinded to notice the Lady in Black laughing. A victorious laugh.

**Flashback interrupted, by Jay**

"WHOA, WHOA, WHOA! WAIT ONE MINUTE! The Lady in Black was...wait, how do you know this happened?!" Jay demanded looking at Sensei.

"I have my ways," Sensei chuckled.

"Yeah! I knew he tried to kill me but I didn't know Onyx was involved!" Garmadon snapped.

"She wasn't. Onyx, come on out," Misako called behind her when an older woman walked out, obviously around Sensei and Garmadon's ages.

"WHAT?! I AM SO CONFUSED!" Lloyd sighed and banged his head on a coffee table.

"You should be. This is a very confusing story," Onyx said and sat down.

"What do you mean?" Cole asked.

"There is a lot more to the legend than any book or website can tell you. Only me and a handful of others know."

"But how does everything else fit into all this?" Zane asked.

"What's happening now? I don't know. But this back-story might help."

"But what does Lukas have to do with this?" Jay asked Onyx.

"I'll explain if you shut that big trap of yours." Onyx snapped.

**The REAL back-story**

Onyx was born in a poor family but they loved her dearly.

Her parents named her Onyx after her jet black hair and dark brown, almost black, eyes.

As Onyx grew, it turned out she was very smart and had a knack for making good costumes.

When Onyx was twelve she decided to make a small group of poor kids to dress up in some scary getup to scare people into giving them money or food.

The boys and girls each had different attire.

The girls had a long black dress with black sequins that they had snagged from a fashion boutique. They also had vampire-like teeth to hiss making them look even scarier.

The mask Onyx had created was the most bewitching. It had a haunting pale look and running mascara.

One boy there, Eugene, had concocted a type of stuff you could drop in your eyes making them look red and terrifying.

The boys had a much simpler outfit, a thick black cape that draped around the whole body with a hood attached.

The masks were much like the girls' but no makeup, just a pale look that made them look like vampires.

Onyx was the first to try out her plan since she was the tallest and had a very mature voice.

She tapped a man on the shoulder; he turned, his face went deathly pale and about passed out.

"Who are you?!" he managed to blurt.

Onyx tried her best to think of a clever name. She looked at her outfit, "I am the Lady in Black, a phantom that rides the night sky. If you do not give me all your money, you will die the next morning," Onyx did her best to sound convincing and evil.

Truthfully, she didn't sound convincing at all but her outfit looked so detailed, so perfect, he was too scared to decline.

He thrust the money in Onyx's hands and raced off.

Onyx took off her mask, "Well, Onyx, you've outdone yourself this time," she said quietly to herself as she smiled.

Her plan kept going until she was a legend.

She decided to take a chance and send her story to a publisher to a book called, 'Ancient Myths and Legends'. Her story was accepted and after that, her club and their families became filthy rich.

Onyx was able to go to school.

She even met three kids named, Garmadon, Misako and Wu.

They became good friends and grew up together.

But Onyx couldn't see her three friends anymore because she got a little too caught up in her schoolwork.

When Onyx was doing her math homework she heard a knock at the window and when she opened it a man jumped through the window and pinned her to the wall, "Girl, the legend says the Lady in Black will return in a few weeks. When that day comes, pretend to blow up Ninjago City," he threatened holding a dagger to her throat.

"Why?" Onyx asked shakily, trying not to swallow, for if she did the sharp knife at her throat would cut her skin.  
"Because I have a plan in mind," the man smiled maliciously.

"What?"

"I'm not gonna tell you. Get your friends together and memorize these lines! Or else," the man threw a huge bag of paper at her and jumped out a window.

Onyx bent down to look at the papers and decided this was her only choice.

**~x~X~x~**

Onyx painted a weird type of footprint trying to make it look almost like the person was floating and waited inside where she knew Wu and Garmadon would be.

Sure enough, they arrived. Onyx played her part and held her hands out the second Ninjago City blew up.

She was chased out of the Monastery and said no one will find out why or what she and her club did.

Onyx later got married and had a daughter named Eva.

Even though Eva had two loving parents, she felt like she didn't belong. Eva was mistreated.

At age sixteen Eva took her mother's Lady in Black getup (She didn't give a second thought to why her mom had it) and made a group of her own.

She sent spies around Ninjago when one story caught her interest.

**Flashback done**

"That's where Wu's story comes into play," Onyx finished.

"So...the Lady in Black was just a scam to get money?" Kai asked.

"Yes. But Eva brings the legend to life."

Sensei told the rest of his:

(Bold) Back to Sensei's flashback

Lukas brought a dagger with him to visit the Garmadon family.

"Lukas! I want you to meet my husband Garmadon and his brother, Wu," Misako greeted him and introduced her family.

"Hi. I'm Lukas." Lukas said dryly.

"Not a very friendly fellow, is he?" Wu asked Garmadon.

* * *

**Sorry. This chapter is SOOO long I had to cut it in two parts or you'd get bored of reading it. **

**I know the last chapter was longer but this one was SO BORING TO WRITE!**

**See ya (Maybe) tomorrow!**


	10. More Backstory (Part Two of Two)

**Sorry I got sick of writing the other day.**

**I'll try to make this a lot quicker because I but you readers are thinking...FLASHBACKS SUCK! **

**Okay, maybe it isn't, but that's what I think...actually I like flashbacks. I don't like writing them because they have to relate to the story at hand and not ramble like what I am doing right now.**

**Read 'Power Ninja Samurai' for a hint for the ending of the book...but can you pick it up?**

**My sister said poop smells like chocolate. **

**That's her logic, if poop looks like chocolate, it smells like chocolate!**

**Well I smell that stuff every time I clean the cat box so her logic needs some help.**

**AreiaCananaid edited! Thank you so much :D**

**While me and my sisters are watching Tarzan and Jane...**

**Tarzan's ape friend (I forgot his name): I don't trust anyone who wears clothes. What are they hiding anyway?**

**My sister: UNDERWEAR!**

* * *

Sensei sighed and set his teapot down on the small table in front of him, "Onyx, would you like some tea?" he asked.

"Haven't you forgotten, Wu? I'm not found of tea." Onyx replied, giving him a knowing look.

Sensei chuckled lightly, "I was hoping you had changed your opinions on tea."

Kai couldn't help but say, "Like how you forced tea down our gullets to make us like it?"

Cole, Jay and Zane couldn't help but wince at the memory.

"Back to the story," Sensei ignored Kai.

**Flashback that started in the last chapter...**

"We've heard a lot about you," Wu said trying to make conversation and things less awkward.

"I wish I could say the same about you," Lukas replied icily.

"Well I guess you were too busy talking to hear my wife tell you about us," Garmadon sniped, angry at his tone.

Wu elbowed him in the ribs whispering, "Ignore him." he said aloud, "Would you like some tea?" he asked. It was always the first thing he asked when a visitor came.

"No thank you," Lukas declined and, with a quick motion, pulled a bigger sized throwing knife out of his coat pocket.

"LUKAS! WHAT IN THE WORLD ARE YOU DOING!?" Misako asked, screaming.

"My bidding," a voice hissed in the back of the room. Lukas whirled around to find the Lady in Black, her eyes twinkling with an evil delight.

"Not you again!" Misako looked stunned.

"W...what are you doing?! I thought you were helping me!" Lukas said indignantly, lowering the knife to his side.

The Lady in Black let out a satisfied grunt and letting a satisfied smirk as she grabbed Lukas's chin, "Listen, sweetie, you scratch my back and I scratch yours."

"But I thought you just helped people!"

"You actually bought that, did you? You are even dumber than I thought you were," she cackled and snatched the knife from Lukas.

"What are you doing?!" Wu asked.

"Saving my little friend here a favor," she brought her arm back and threw...but the knife wobbled and fell to the floor, her eyes flashed with anger, seeing that it was plastic, "What is the meaning of this?!"

"I didn't want to actually kill him. I'd just make him beg for his life and then he'd let me marry Misako." Lukas replied.

"Garmadon? Beg? Those two words don't match, they shouldn't even be in the same sentence," Wu commented.

The Lady in Black sneered and knocked Lukas out with a heavy punch to the head, "I'll come back for you," she said menacingly as she dragged Lukas away.

**End of flashback**

"How could you think that wasn't important?" Kai inquired, really annoyed that he thought that that was an unimportant fact.

"I don't know," Sensei answered truthfully.

Onyx got up, "I have to go now. My husband is probably wondering where I am."

"Whatever happened to Eva?" Zane asked, wanting to get as much information as he could before she left.

Onyx heaved a deep sigh, "I don't know. I really don't. I have two boys, one girl and nine grandchildren, but that doesn't make up for Eva," she said sadly and headed towards the door. As she left she promised to help as much as she could.

Once Onyx was out of view, Garmadon looked at Lloyd, "She's two years younger than me and she already has nine grandkids," he put his arm around his son's shoulder. "You have to get working before my time is up."

Lloyd looked behind his shoulder to see his brothers snickering and Jay had the audacity to say, "I know of a few dating websites. I'm sure we'd love to help you find a nice girl."

Lloyd about smacked him across the face but tried his best to answer his dad's teasing, "I didn't have too much time for girls."

"Actually, you spent an abundance of time reading comic books in your spare time." Zane butted in followed with more chuckles.

**~x~X~x~**

Kai and the others figured out how to get his plan up and running. It took six days to finish it.

The next day, the heroes proceeded with the plan.

And they told Sensei and Garmadon about it this time as to not worry them.

"WE HAVE TO WALK BACK UP THE STEPS?!" Jay complained as he looked at the steps.

"Do you want to rescue Nya or not?" Kai snapped.

"But it's going to take forever," Jay about cried.

"Remember? We used Spinjitzu last time," Misako reminded the boys to stop Jay from bursting out crying.

"Oh, right, Spinjitzu," said Jay with a dorky smile.

They got to the top at 11:59:59, "I see you have arrived barely on time," the man said without turning around from the desert scene he was looking at.

"We figured out your deal, Lukas!" Cole snapped.

"So you found out, unfortunate for you," Lukas growled, turning around and held out a big knife. Nya was tied up beside him.

"Is it plastic?" Jay asked hopefully.

"Fortunate for me, it isn't," Lukas smirked, holding the knife at Nya's throat. "Hand over Misako!" he bellowed.

"No!" Lloyd shouted back before Kai or Jay could reply.

"Lloyd! He's gonna kill Nya if we don't hand over your mom!" Cole stepped in.

"I'll go," Misako spoke up willingly.

"No, Mom! Don't!" Lloyd tried to stop her but Misako ignored him and walked forward toward Lukas.

"Atta girl!" Lukas smiles and throws Nya to Zane, almost falling off the side of the mountain when Nya hit him.

"You shouldn't have done that!" Nya told Misako when Zane took off her gag.

"What's done is done," Misako replied and was thrown off the side of the mountain.

"MOM!" Lloyd shouted and ran to the side but got tossed back to be caught by Zane **(What? In the episodes Zane catches everyone if they fall or something!)**.

"Don't count on seeing your mother again!" Lukas laughed evilly and jumped off the side with her.

"We should really know where he lands," Jay commented. "It would be useful in the future."

"WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?! HE HAS MOM! DAD'S GONNA KILL US!" Lloyd yelled.

"We'll think of something to get your mom back," Nya said patting Lloyd on the back in a comforting manner.

"We should get some rest, then we can probably think of something,." Zane agreed.

Jay had been counting steps again, "Nine-hundred-eight, nine-hundred-nine, nine-hundred-ten, nine-hundred-eleven, nine-hundred-twelve..."

Nya cut him off, "Did you do this last time?"

Zane nodded, "I am afraid he did."

"Remember that idea about using Kai as a skate board?" Lloyd piped up.

"Yeah. Why?" Cole asked.

"We aren't actually gonna do it are we?" Jay asked.

"Too bad I don't have the audacity to do it, but this plan might work," Lloyd smirked and froze the rest of the steps.

"Lloyd, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no! I'm not the ice ninja for a reason. I've tried ice skating before and I about drowned!" Kai complained.

"Kai, that was only because you melted the ice," Cole looked at Kai.

"I never actually slipped on ice before, because the only reason I ever used ice was to fight, so you have more experience than I do." Lloyd shrugged and kept his eyes on the steps.

"Y'know, that doesn't help at all..." Kai commented, "If we all slip, fall and die, I will never speak to you again!"

"Aww, come on!" Jay rolled his eyes, stepping on the ice and started slipping down, "AHHHH! KAI WAS RIGHT! THIS WAS A BAD IDEA!"

"I will give it a go," Zane stepped on the ice, knowing how to ice skate, it was very easy for him. "Lloyd, this idea was much better than your others," he said and started sliding down the rest of the way.

"Was that a compliment or an insult?" Nya asked.

"From Zane, it was a compliment." Cole shrugged.

Cole ended up turning the steps into a mudslide to get Kai to go down and the fire ninja was very muddy.

"You look like a dog pooed all over you," Jay snickered.

"Shut up." Kai wiped some mud off his face (Nya had dared him to go face-down).

"How are we gonna get Misako back?" Nya asked.

"We won't," Kai said in a voice without emotion.

"What? Kai?" Nya sounded a little scared until Jay whacked Kai upside the head.

"Kai, stop it!"

"But, Nya," Jay turned his head to face Nya, "we won't get Misako back."

"Why not?" Nya asked wondering if these boys were really her friends.

"Because I wanted her to go," Kai explained.

"What?! Why?! Are you actually my brother?!" Nya snapped and smacked Kai across the face.

"NYA! YES I'M YOUR BROTHER! I PLANNED THAT OUT! MISAKO IS—" Nya smacked Kai again.

"NYA! CUT IT OUT! MISAKO IS—" _SMACK!_

"Will you quit—" _SMACK!_

"I'm serious! Stop—" _SMACK!_

"Guys! Help me—" _SMACK!_

"I don't know, Kai...we see you with a red face all the time, just never THAT red." Jay snickered.

"Nya, Kai is your brother, what he is trying to say is, 'Misako is—" _SMACK!_

"WHATZANETRIEDTOSAYISMISAKOISRIGHTTHERE!" Cole managed to blurt out before _SMACK!_

"Whoa, girl! You went out on a smacking spree!" Kai rubbed his cheek where Nya had repeatedly smacked it.

"Nya, I'm right here," Misako walked out from behind the Ultra Sonic Radar.

"But...I saw you get taken away by Lukas!" Nya protested now very confused.

"We helped design her. Jay captured Zane's gears and wires then we copied Misako's personality into a robot. She is supposed to record everything she hears and send it to the computer on the bridge," Lloyd explained. "You would have saved your hand from hitting the hard heads of our brothers."

"What?" Nya asked still confused, "But why did Lloyd act like that?"

"It's called acting, sis. We'll explain when we get back to the Bounty; but after that, we have to get DJ back," Kai said.

"I am not familiar with, 'DJ'," Zane piped up.

"Doctor Julien, Zane," Jay rolled his eyes.

* * *

**Yes, the guest who guessed the ninja were gonna send a robot, but I'll explain more about it in the next chapter and no, I still don't feel like writing questions and clues :P**

**Sorry I didn't update yesterday...I kinda got distracted with Hank the Cowdog.**

**Still...no question or hint time.**

**But I have a question about my writing:**

**Am I keeping the characters in character? **


	11. Lies, Tricks, and Everything in Between

**AreiaCananaid edited so credit goes to her as well 8D**

**Should I delete my first story? I'm not living in memories while reading that...I'm living in SHAME :P**

**You** **readers probably HATE my little (okay, long) author notes so I'll try to shut up for the beginning author's notes from now on :P**

* * *

"You should have seen us! We were SO good at acting!" Lloyd boasted; a proud smile on his face.

"Yeah, yeah. We know; you think you're some FAMOUS actor now," Kai said and rolled his eyes skyward.

"I KNOW!" Lloyd shouted overly loud.

"Wait...aren't you already famous?" Jay asked, a tad annoyed.

"Uh...yeah. BUT NOW I'M EVEN MORE FAMOUS!"

The Ninja, Nya, and Misako were driving back to the Bounty in the Ultra Sonic Radar and Lloyd (if you hadn't noticed) was talking his mouth off about how good of an actor he was.

"So explain. What exactly happened?" Nya looked at Jay.

"Well, Kai reasoned since Doctor Julien could make Zane, he figured he could make another Misako. But when we found out DJ was missing...Kai found his plan a little harder; but when Aida pointed out that we could capture Zane's wires and gears, we found the right pieces. Then she answered random questions at truth (and we found some revealing stuff...tee-hee) then we put that in the robot. Now...we should be able to get the stuff she's seeing back at home!" Jay left out some info but he assumed it would NEVER come in handy.

But when they got back to the Bounty, they found an unexpected surprise...

Garmadon darted to the ninjas when they arrived back at the Bounty, "C...come to the bridge! It's an emergency!"

"What is it?" Zane asked.

"Follow me."

Garmadon lead the boys (and his wife and Nya) to the bridge where the Lady in Black was on the big flat screen with a message.

"I see you have you sister back," she sneered, examining her nails blinking her eyes repeatedly.

"Y...yeah! We did!" Jay yelled back then added, "Wait...how are you communicating with us?"

The Lady in Black chuckled, "Come, come. Do you think we'd fall for that robot? Since you've tried to con me, I decided someone had to pay the toll," she stopped absent mindedly looking at her nails to snapped her fingers and Doctor Julien was dragged on the screen.

"FATHER!" Zane yelled, his eyes flashing with anger.

The Lady in Black was still blinking her eyes repeatedly, "You can't get to him now, Zane. You had your chance and you blew it."

She was about to turn the screen off on her end when Sensei stopped her, "How did you know that was a robot?"

The Lady in Black smiled and continued blinking her eyes, "I have eyes, you know. They're even in plain sight but you are too blind to see that. Ciao."

Jay smacked his forehead, "GUYS! She knows everything we're doing! How is she doing that! Unless..." he drifted off.

"Unless what?" Cole asked.

"ONE OF US IS A FRAUD!"

"How did you get that idea?" Lloyd queried and raised his eyebrow.

"It just came to me," Jay answered and Kai slapped his forehead.

"How do you know she doesn't have recording stuff set up around here?" Cole challenged when it hit him, "Oh.."

**With Doctor Julien...**

The Lady in Black switched the TV off, "Do you think they got the picture?" she smirked when there was a knock on the door.

"Come in," Brian called.

"Lukas! What are you doing back here!?" the Lady in Black hissed standing up tall and her costume made her look like a witch (or a vampire).

"W..well you promised I'd get Misako..." he mumbled.

"Well marry the robot or something! If it wasn't for our spies we would have been completely fooled so she can replace the real Misako," Brian rolled his eyes.

"I want a human! Not a robot!" Lukas whined.

"The ninja seem fine with Zane so get lost and propose to the robot," Aida switched Misako on.

"Aida you fool! Turn it back off! It sends all the info to the ninja!" Brian yelled at Aida.

"All right, all right. Keep your shirt on." Aida turned the robot back off.

"Sorry, Lukas. We have to throw Misako away." The Lady in Black snickered and took her mask off.

Lukas growled, "You act like you just got out of high school sometimes."

"Lukas, I got out of high school a year ago."

"RESPECT YOUR ELDERS!" he screamed

"Then you have a lot of respect. You're ancient," Aida grinned.

**On the Bounty...**

"Aida...? Did that man just say...Aida?" Jay asked, surprised.

"I believe he did," Zane answered.

"It could be a different Aida," Cole said while bitting his lip.

"Yeah...I guess," Jay agreed.

**At the Mountain of a Million Steps...**

"Um..sir?" Brian stuttered looking at a woman.

"Sir, Brian?" she asked without turning around.

"Ma'am. We failed to get Misako." Brian answered nervously.

"I guess we will have to go with plan B," the woman replied.

"P...plan B? But...Aida could get killed!"

"I don't care! She's already a traitor as it is!" the woman whipped around, she was young and had piercing green eyes that seemed to shoot into you like bullets, "Unless you want _him_ to die."

Brian nodded hesitantly and obeyed, "Yes ma'am."

"We will call the ninja at the Floating Ruins tonight. Maybe this time they won't be late...and bring Aida."

A malicious grin spread across her face.

* * *

**Sorry this chapter was super short...you can wait for a longer chapter :P**

**Since I made the a/n up top short(ish) I can say whatever I want!**

**YAY! I HIT FIFTY REVIEWS!**

**I feel that my writing quality has gone down for some reason...HMMM.**

**I have a few questions, though: **

**(1) **What do you like about my stories?

**(2) **What do you DISLIKE about my stories?

**(3) **How could I improve my writing skills (not grammar wise)?

**(4) **Did you know I had a short-term crush on one of the ninjas? GUESS. You'll never guess because I have no idea why I liked him that much...

**(5) **What is you favorite episode of Ninjago? My sister's favorite is 'Can of Worms' because of Zane saying, "How can I strike fear in this? It's PINK!"

**Ho-hum. Hey, do you wanna hear one of my wise quotes?:**

**"You can never strike fear in a snake if you're wearing pink."**

**-Kokokringles (you probably know where that came from xD)**


	12. The Unraveling

**AreiaCananaid edited 8D**

**I like smiling like an idiot 8D 8D 8D 8D 8D 8D 8D 8D 8D 8D**

**Okay...now I'm bored with smiling like an idiot.**

* * *

Nya was scrubbing dishes, 'Gosh!' she thought to herself, shaking her head in annoyance, 'What does it take for them to rinse off their dishes?'

Just then Kai walked in the kitchen to get a drink of water from the fridge. Nya, not able to take it any longer, demanded suddenly, "What does it take for you to rinse off your dishes?"

Kai turned around from the fridge's open door and pretended to think, a crooked smile on his lips, "Hmm, a million dollars, maybe?"

Nya gave him a 'You're-kidding-right?' face and continued washing dishes with barely contained annoyance.

Her brother snatched a bottled water from the refrigerator, shut the door and started to walk off. Nya, noticing he was in a convenient place, did something she had wanted to do for a while but didn't because everyone was too busy; but now...

"HEY! Why'd you do that?!" Kai snapped angrily.

Nya had sprayed Kai with the sprayer on the right side of the sink, "Sorry! I've always wanted to do that ever since Mom sprayed you!" she laughed.

"Great, now everyone's doing it," he said while trying to spike his now flattened hair.

Lloyd suddenly darted in the kitchen with Jay hot on his heels, "GET BACK HERE, YOU ROTTEN TOADSTOOL!" Jay screamed, a trail of water dripping behind him.

From what Nya could see, Lloyd tried to hit someone with a water balloon but hit Jay instead and that's why her boyfriend was soaking wet. Jay threw a water balloon at Lloyd but, as skilled as the Green Ninja was, he jumped behind Kai and the balloon hit Kai splat in the face, for he was busily trying to fix his hair.

"WHAT THE HECK?!" Kai yelled, he was drenched from head-to-toe, again.

Everybody froze and looked toward Kai as steam came off of him in waves. His face a picture of anger, he glared at Jay and started to chase him, while Jay chased Lloyd and Lloyd just ran from two angry ninjas.

**With Aida...**

"Brian, I told you! If I gave myself away I would have gotten caught already," Aida hissed in Brian's face.

"Davis, because you didn't, we have to go with plan B," Brian answered, with equal venom.

"Great, but weren't you the one who came up with that idea?" Lukas stepped into the argument.

"I thought this one would work if it wasn't for someone's stupidity!" Brian glared at Aida and Lukas meaningfully.

"Oh, so you wouldn't have fallen for it if they handed the robot to you?" Lukas yelled back.

The Lady in Black, who was not in her scary costume, pushed them all apart, "Cut it out! Aida won't die in plan B- I can guarantee that."

"How can you?" Brian asked, half-interested.

"Love is a very powerful element of life," The Lady in Black looked at Brian with a malicious smile. "And I intend to use it to my full advantage."

"Fine. We'll get the black ninja," Brian sighed.

**At the Bounty...**

Zane was helping Cole look for security cameras, "Here's another one, Zane. Pass me the duct tape, please," Cole took the duct tape from Zane and covered the camera up.

"How is it possible the Lady in Black broke in the Bounty? We have alarms set everywhere," Zane asked, covering up another camera set under a coffee table.

"I know. But if we had five brains instead of two it might be easier." Cole answered and got down from his step-ladder.

"I don't get it," said Zane confusedly.

Cole sighed resignedly, sometimes having a nindroid for a brother was annoying.

Lloyd slid under the coffee table Zane has just put duct tape on, "Hide me!" he whimpered.

Kai and Jay appeared, "Where is that brat?!" Kai demanded. Jay had officially convensed Kai that it was Lloyd's falt and not his, making them join together to find him.

"I don't see him," Cole said looking around, purposely looking over the coffee table.

"Perhaps he want southeast," Zane suggested and pointed on that direction.

Jay and Kai dashed off, "Well, they're gone. Why were they looking for you anyway?" Cole asked.

Lloyd shrugged, "Jay was gonna throw a water balloon at me but it hit Kai..."

Cole's phone rang, he pulled it out of his pocket and looked at the caller ID: It was Aida.

Lloyd looked at Cole's phone, "You already have her on speed dial?" he joked.

Cole ignored him and answered the phone, "Hello?"

Another voice boomed like thunder on the other end, almost making Cole jerk his head away from the cellphone, "WE HAVE AIDA! COME TO THE FLOATING RUINS TONIGHT AT TEN SHARP. DON'T BE LATE, COME ALONE, AND DON'T TELL ANYONE ABOUT THIS MESSAGE OR YOU'RE NEVER GONNA SEE AIDA AGAIN!"

**With the bad guys...**

"Do you think that sounded convincing enough?" Brian asked.

"Oh yeah, it sounded convincing," Aida responded.

"Hold still," The Lady in Black scolded.

"Sorry."

The Lady in Black finished painting Aida's face, she took a couple of steps backward to observe her handywork. It looked as if she had been badly beaten and red paint was all over her arms and face, "Pretty good, huh?" she asked giving Aida a mirror.

"Nice, Sophie."

Sophie (aka The Lady in Black) chuckled with an evil glee.

"Sophie, get your outfit on. You're gonna trick the black ninja tonight," Brian said.

**At the Bounty...**

"...with carts full of hearts?" Jay asked, begging for Cole to tell him where he was going.

"Oodles of noodles?!" Jay tried again.

"Oodles of noodles?" he inquired one eyebrow raised in a face that said: 'Really?'

"It was the first thing that entered my mind."

"If you spoke what was on your mind you could invent another language," Cole muttered under his breath

"What was that? I didn't catch it," Jay cupped his ear with one hand while smirking.

After fifteen more minutes of trying, Jay reported back to Zane, Lloyd, and Kai, "Sorry, he's like an unopened soda bottle with this whole ordeal."

"I sense this has something to do with Aida..." Zane commented. When Zane said that, Jay pieced the final piece of the puzzle together.

"IT'S AIDA!" he screamed.

"What are you talking about?" Lloyd asked while rubbing his sensitive ear that Jay had screamed in.

"Look, when we were showing Aida the Bounty, she stopped every ten minutes. She claimed that she saw something of her interest. She must have been planting the cameras!"

Kai scratched the back of his head, "Well why would she do that?"

"She's working for The Lady in Black! What Zane was sensing wasn't a glitch! And I think Cole is gonna rescue Aida!" Jay reasoned.

"Well what do we tell a lovestruck Cole?" Kai asked.

"We'll think of something!" Jay responded.

"Jay, how would you feel if we just found out Nya is a dangerous criminal and was using you to get information on us?" Lloyd asked.

"I would feel hurt, confused, angry, and a bunch of other emotions I've never felt. Why?"

Kai facepalmed, "Jay, that's probably what Cole will feel," he looked around to make sure no one was watching and whispered. "He's serious, guys! And I don't think Aida even likes the guy."

Zane heaved a deep sigh, "We must follow our brother to wherever he is going; whether he likes it or not."

"Yeah, but if he sees us he'll force us back home. We're gonna have to follow him in secret," Jay stated.

"Well what if Jay's theory is right? We don't have any proof! The police definitely won't look into it, and, if we talk to Sensei, he'll just think we're crazy and make us answer another crazy riddle! Like the easiest way to light a candle," Kai snapped.

"We don't have any cameras or anything?" Jay asked.

"We don't have any portable ones." Zane answered.

"So what do we do?" Jay asked.

"I have ONE idea...but you guys are gonna have to trust me to go through with this because it might sound a little crazy," Kai said.

**With Aida and Sophie...**

"Aida, quit fidgeting or these ropes will be tighter than I intended it to be," a woman said.

"Do you have your lines memorized?" Sophie asked in her Lady in Black getup.

"Yeah, yeah. 'Cole help, they're gonna kill me if you don't give yourself up. Don't do it, don't do it.' I am getting paid three million dollars and I think I'd do my best it this job," Aida hissed and tossed some of her hair out of her face.

"Act. Show emotion!" Sophie snapped.

"I will! How do you think I won Cole over?" Aida rolled her eyes when Brian made his appearance.

"Davis, you'd better get this right, or someone will be living in a world of sorrow," he spat at her.

"If you're gonna be threatening me like that I know someone's gonna be living in a world of sorrow," Aida hissed.

"If you don't quit, you're both gonna be living in a world of sorrow 'cause you're gonna be late and if you're late, she's not gonna be happy," Sophie rolled her eyes.

"You're right," Brian agreed.

* * *

**OH NO! Is Cole gonna fall for Aida's trickery? **

**BTW, I used to have a short-term crush on Lloyd...I'm way over that, Lloyd lovers.**

**I thank ****AreiaCananaid** for editing and I'm gonna leave you with my idiot smile! 8D


	13. I Can't Think of a Title

**My STUPENDOUS idiot smile 8D**

**Okay...you are practically yelling at Cole in the reviews for being NOT solid as rock...I chose Cole for a reason! Not story wise reason, it would have made more sense if Aida went after Lloyd, but I just thout it'd be ironic for Cole so yeah.**

**Edited by AreiaCananaid.**

**By the way...were you wondering why I put Sophie (better known as 'The Lady in Black) blinking repeatedly? Well...YOU'LL SOON FIND OUT!**

**It's really important, actually.**

* * *

"Okay... What should the note say?" Kai asked with a pen and paper in hand so to tell Sensei and Garmadon that they went somewhere since had Zane pointed out that if they told Sensei in person he'd make them train; lots of training.

"HMMM..."

Jay smiled a huge smile as an idea came to him. He snatched the pen and paper from Kai and wrote:

_Deer whoever is reading this,_

_We went to a sleep-over and might not come back home._

_Sincerely yuors,_

_THE Ninja._

Jay was very pleased with his idea even though he made multiple errors.

"Geez Jay, did you ever pass spelling in school?" Kai joked.

Jay glared at Kai.

"Hey! How 'bout this?" Lloyd suggested, after he crumpled Jay's letter and threw it in the trash, with a small 'hey' from Jay.

_Dear Sensei/Uncle/Dad/Garmadon/Mom/Misako,_

_We left the Bounty so we can—_

His letter was cut short when Sensei walked in the room, "We're training!" Jay jumped.

"We are?" Zane asked, confused.

"It does not matter whether you are training or not; I have some information you could use for this Lady in Black," Sensei answered.

"What information, Sensei?" Kai asked.

"Go to this address," Sensei told his students and Zane took a look at the address.

"We will leave immediately, Sensei."

"What about Kai's crazy plan?" Jay asked.

"We still have a while until that." Zane replied

The ninja and Nya (excluding Cole) arrived at the address. It led to a large condo that was tan-ish and trimmed with off-white; it didn't look like it was very well kept. The ninja and samurai walked cautiously inside.  
The inside was fairing no better than the outside. The walls were a lighter tan and the crown-molding was off-white.

Zane walked to the front desk, "May I help you, sir?" the woman asked, looking up from her computer.

"Yes. We are looking for a man named...Benjamin D.?" Zane answered, looking at her name-tag to see her name; which was Ruth.

Ruth scratched her head, "I don't think anyone is registered here by that name but..." she got up and went through a file.

"There is a boy living here under that name but...he's a minor." Ruth answered.

"How old?" Lloyd asked.

Ruth bit her lip, "I've only seen him about three times, but he's probably around fifteen or sixteen."

Kai looked at Nya, "How could someone that young help us with this?"

"Oh, like you aren't that much older," Nya responded.

"Would you still like to see him?" Ruth asked.

"Sure," Nya answered.

Ruth led the ninja and Nya to room nine-hundred-two, "Hello? Benny, the Ninja are here to see you."

The door cracked open; a boy in a wheelchair opened it. He looked like a male, younger version of Aida.

That meant he had shiny, curly, dark red hair and light green eyes. His teeth were almost perfect and white, "Uh, hi?" he asked nervously.

"I'll leave you to talk," Ruth said and quickly walked back to the front desk.

"I heard that you knew some revealing information about this...Lady in Black," Zane said.

Benjamin froze, "The...The Lady in Black?" his voice sounded timid and weak.

"Yeah." Lloyd nodded.

"I...I don't know if I should say..." Benjamin rolled his wheelchair back and tried to shut the door but Kai grabbed it, scaring him.

"Don't be scared. We just need some help and we think you can us," Jay said gently.

Benjamin's scared look was still plastered on his face, "But...but my sister could get in trouble! If she goes to jail, I have to go back to my grandmother! She can't afford me!" he blurted.

"Who is your sister, exactly?" Kai asked.

"I...I can't say," Benjamin said hesitantly.

"You look pale. Do you need some water?" Nya asked.

**~x~X~x~**

Cole climbed to the top of the pole at the Floating Ruins and saw the Lady in Black holding a knife to Aida's throat.

Cole took a step closer but The Lady in Black stopped him and shook her finger, "No, no, no," she cackled.

"Cole! Help!" Aida choked.

The Lady in Black snapped her finger and a cage appeared (don't ask how), "Go in, and she will live. If you don't, let's just say things won't be pretty. For your girl, I mean."

Aida looked at The Lady in Black and mouthed, 'you totally mixed up our scripts' but Cole was too busy regretting he went alone to notice.

"Don't do it! I deserve to die!" Aida yelled, her voice cracking.

The Lady in Black batted her eyelashes, "Well, boy, make your choice."

**~x~X~x~**

Benjamin had stalled the Ninja and Nya some important information, but nothing about Aida.

"Look, Benjamin. We need to know about Aida," Nya said gently when the door opened.

A familiar voice called, "I'm back, Ben," Benjamin froze.

"You have to get out through that window!" he whispered.

"The window?! We're on the ninth floor!" Jay replied.

"You're ninjas, right? You'll figure it out," Benjamin continued trying to push the Ninja and Nya to the window but his sister appeared.

"What are you doing here?" she asked coldly.

"This...looks pretty bad, doesn't it?" Kai asked biting his lip.

Benjamin's sister nodded and gritted her teeth, "Yeah. It kinda does."

* * *

**What is (name) gonna do to our heroes? **

**What did Cole choose?**

**Who is Benjamin's sister?**

**How super-obvious are these questions?**

**This is one of my shortest chapters ever...**

**DID YOU KNOW?:**

I used to call the leviathan (episode twenty-two) a kraken.

I stopped after a while but two questions remained...why did I call the leviathan a 'kraken'? And where did that come from?

I found out why a few months later.

I just bought 'Emily Windsnap and the Land of the Midnight Sun' (I think that's it) and then it hit me.

In 'Emily Windsnap and the Monster of the Deep', there was a similar monster called a 'kraken'!

It was probably stored in the back of my head but I never found out until the fifth book of one of my favorite series came out.

Isn't it weird that every single of my last seven (if you count the one you're reading) paragraphs start with 'I'?


	14. Aida's Story (And My Heritage)

**Sorry for the add in the last chapter...but I'll be glad to report a real (short) chapter!**

**Yay...**

**Edited by ArieaCananaid...a REAL yay for that.**

**YAY!**

**Oh! Before I forget...**

** I have a few oneshot ideas but...I don't know what to do first. I think I'll do one inspired by TheComingofEpic.**

**And I forgot where I was born...but I know it wasn't in America...or India. **

**But I _do_ know what country I was born in! China (not Chinatown in NY)**

**And no. I don't have an accent. I was RAISED since eleven months in the United States of America!**

**I can't even do a Chinese accent. **

**I checked on FaceBook and I was born in Pingnan, Guangxi, China!**

**Here is how to prounounce 'Guangxi'!**

**Gwang-she. But if you ever go to China, don't prounce it how you just did because you didn't do the right tone. The language has four tones! That's why I chose Latin for a second language over Hebrew, Chinese (Mandarin), and Greek.**

**I don't know much of anything about the Chinese culture, though. But I know A LOT about American!**

**Okay, obviously, FanFiction's spell checker doesn't support countries on the other side of the globe.**

**Now that you know I am a Siberian/Alaskin native American descent born in China, on with the story!**

* * *

Cole woke up groggily, with his hazy eyes he looked around and found he was in a cage. He noticed somebody else with him; it was Doctor Julien. "Where are we?" he shook his head to clear out the fog that seemed to be in there, and rubbed his eyes to clear them out.

"In a cage." Doctor Julien chuckled, "It's been lonely since you got Nya back. I'm glad I have some company."

"You're glad I got caught?" Cole asked.

"No, but I am surprised you got caught at all. You usually are more careful than that."

Knowing that he could wriggle out of this without making himself look stupid for coming alone Cole replied truthfully, mumbling: "I...gave myself away."

"Gave yourself away? What for?" Doctor Julien asked, clearly very surprised.

Cole told Doctor Julien the whole story.

"You actually gave yourself away for Aida? You don't know, do you?" Doctor Julien looked worried.

"Know what?"

"Aida is a spy for Brian."

"Who's Brian?"

"Brian is one of the masterminds behind this whole case."

"You mean...this isn't about The Lady in Black?" Cole looked confused.

"No. She's just a diversion to what's really happening."

"But...but what is really happening?"

"Aida—" the doctor was cut off in mid sentence.

"Aida? What about her?" Cole asked, he obviously didn't hear the part about Aida the first time.

Doctor Julien was about to answer when Sophie walked in with her Lady in Black outfit, "I see our guest has woken up."

"What are you going to do with us?" Cole asked.

"Brian didn't tell you?" Sophie laughed.

"T...tell us what?" Doctor Julien stuttered.

Sophie simply laughed, "You'll have to find out what we're going to do with you." and she walked out then added, "Nya doesn't remember Aida working with me." **(I just realized I forgot that Nya knew...)**

After Sophie left, Cole collapsed on the cold bottom of the cage in defeat and frustration.

**~x~X~x~**

"Aida!" Zane snapped when Aida backed the ninja and Nya up to the cracked wall of the apartment.

"I remember you now! You tricked all of us!" Nya yelled.

"Aida! Don't hurt them!" Benjamin spoke up.

Aida turned her head, "Well what do you think we should do with them, genius?"

"Not kill them!" Benjamin pleaded. Aida turned to the the Ninja.

Jay took a deep breath, "W...we won't turn you into the police if you don't kill us."

"Jay! What are you doing?!" Kai snapped.

Jay ignored Kai, "IF, you tell us what's going on."

Aida looked at her brother's pleading eyes and she sighed, "Well, sit down. This is a long story."

"Awwww! Why are there so many long backstories?" Lloyd complained.

"Do you want to hear this or not?" Aida asked.

"Yeah."

"Then shut up and listen." **(when I wrote that, I thought of Disney's Princess Diaries.)**

**Flashback three years ago...**

"PICK THAT UP THIS INSTANT!" Benjamin's grandmother yelled.

"Yes, ma'am," he said and quickly picked up his mathbook off of the floor.

Aida peeked up from the book she was reading for college, "Hey, Benny, come over here." she put her book on her chair and led her twelve-year-old brother to her room.

"Hey, why don't we go to the amusement park...so get away from here for a while."

Benjamin nodded excitedly and Aida picked her keys up off her bed.

When they were driving to the amusement park, the siblings didn't know what fate had in mind.

A pickup truck had run a red light and rammed Aida's small car, paralyzing Benjamin for life and crushing a part of his skull.

Aida had only a few bruises and a broken arm. Benjamin needed professional help afterwards.

Benjamin's grandmother paid for his help at first, but her money started getting low and had to stop.

Aida decided to stop going to college to help take care of Benjamin.

She later left her grandmother taking her stepbrother to a different home when she was twenty-three but couldn't find a good job because she dropped out of college.

When Aida was going to lose her room and all seemed lost, but then she met Brian.

He offered her three million dollars to work with the Lady in Black to release a dangerous medicine that could slowly wipe out the entire human race.

Aida accepted the offer, thinking her life couldn't get much worse.

**End of flashback (I know I totally skimmed through it.)**

"Is that medicine...a liquid?" Kai asked, his mind remembering some detail he had stored away.

"Yes, why?" Aida asked.

"The liquid! That's what Jay slipped on at the Bounty! Doctor Julien must have inhaled some and that's why he passed out! He's slowly dying this very second!" Kai exclaimed.

"Zane's dad is dying?!" Lloyd asked.

"FATHER! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Zane screamed.

"There is an antidote...right, Aida?" Jay asked.

Aida shrugged, "I...I don't know. No one ever tried to make an antidote and the only person able to invent it is probably your father. That's why we kidnapped him. He can invent—"

"But he's an inventor. Not a doctor!" Lloyd interrupted.

"Exactly," Aida nodded, "He's an inventor. No doctor could figure out what substance Brian used to make this. The only person who has the IQ is your father, Zane."

"You said you didn't know anything else," Zane commented.

"Where's Cole? He said he'd be here," Jay asked.

"Don't...don't count on seeing him any time soon." Benjamin spoke up.

"Why? What did you do to Cole?!" Kai hissed throwing Aida to the wall.

The gentle side of Aida went down the toilet, "He had his chance, Kai. He didn't want to see me die so he didn't. He gave himself up."

Jay realized what she meant, "YOU MEAN YOU LIED TO HIM?!"

Aida nodded, "Yes. I have been lying to him. But this wasn't a lie. I really could have died. But I didn't. What are you going to do now, hero? I never had to tell you anything. You never had any proof. I just told you that to keep you distracted."

Zane whipped his head around and ran to the window. There were people climbing up the nine floors, "You mean..." he started.

"No. All of that was true. But you won't live to tell the tale. Bummer." Aida rolled her eyes.

"What are we going to do?" Lloyd asked.

"Hmmm...LET'S GET OUT OF HERE!" Jay screamed and everyone ran out the door.

But Nya stopped at the doorway, "For a minute there, I actually felt sorry for you," but before she could say anymore she was pulled away by Zane.

"Are you sure you want to continue helping these people?" Benjamen asked after Brian's goons had left.

"No," Aida replied, "I can't just stop. We are just so close."

"Close to what, Aida? I know you need the money, but is this something you want to do to get this job?"

"I don't know! I'm just confused and I don't know what to do!" Aida sighed in a weak voice and left to go to her room.

* * *

**Sorry for so many annoying a/n. I've been watching Disney's Jessie and trying to fix a virus on my computer all day.**

**I would have prefered NOT to give Aida a sad backstory but if I didn't...this story wouldn't have worked out.**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I don't like the weird twist I shoved in here for some reason.**

**What do you think about this story so far?**

**I'm getting SO lazy for writing these chapters...I think I'm losing interest in writing this...HMMM.**

**I am super nevous about the little Cole part of the beginning of this story...because well...IT JUST SEEMS OUT OF CHARACTER!**

**I am OBSESSED with keeping characters in character so that's why I'm super nevous...so if you want to flame about that, don't cuss and do it as a guest. THANKS :D**

**Wait a minute, 8D**

**P.S. If you want, I can tell you more about my heritage, just ask and I am not sensitive about being adopted...and BY THE WAY, I am OFFENDED my sibling dating! Would you date your brother? SERIOUSLY, PEOPLE! I am OFFENDED. Uh, no offense.**

**P.P.S. SPOILER ALERT! The Little Engine CAN! Like I said, I've been watching Jessie (my new second favorite show I've been watching since Ally is mean to Jessie, so I gave up on Austin & Ally, Ninjago ended so no new episodes :'(, and Dragons: Riders of Berk episodes have gotten LAME). **

**But there really is a spoiler here, Aida WILL eventually help get Cole back and go to prison for twenty-five years with a fine of $250,000.99 and Benjamin is gonna have to live with his corrupt and broke grandma...unless I think of another idea. But now, that's the idea.**

**Now I am off to continue watch Jessie and listen to my sister watch Ninjago on our dad's Kindle Fire that ain't HD!**

**Which is better?:**

**White sugar (a non-cubed version of what Sensei Wu puts in his tea)?**

**Or brown sugar (sugar that you have to pound with a hammer to put in your cookies)?**


	15. A New Ally

**Did you read the story me and 17blanceri made up while talking about a JayxNya story? Don't worry. **

**Edited by AreiaCananaid.**

**The Bounty is still at the dock I mentioned around the beginning of the story.**

**A new story _and_ a new chapter in one day!**

* * *

The next day, the ninjas were sitting in their beds, thinking about their next move when there was a knock at the door, "I bet that's Aida bearing apologies," Kai announced and walked to the door, Zane and Jay following in his wake out of boredom.

As he opened the door he started talking without looking at the person at the other side, "Look, Aida; we'll forgive you only if you—" Kai stopped talking when he looked down at a little girl.

"Would you like some Girl Scout cookies?" the little girl asked, holding up a box of cookies.

Kai chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly, "Um, no. Now get lost, kid! We're trying to save a friend!" he slammed the door in the girl's face.

Lloyd looked at Kai, "If Cole was here, he'd smack you so hard your eyes would pop out. Since he isn't here," Lloyd knocked Kai upside the head, very harshly, "I'll do it."

Jay opened the door to apologize but saw the little girl running away, "Great! Now she's gonna start a revolt and all the parents are gonna think we abuse kids!" he complained.

"Hey, you kinda do," Lloyd commented and walked off.

Zane looked at his brothers, "Do we?" he asked.

Kai and Jay exchanged glances, "NAH!" they all said in unison.

There was another knock at the door, "Perhaps you should apologize to the girl," Zane suggested.

Jay let out a fake gasp, "Kai...I feel for you," he patted Kai on the back, doing his best to hide his smile.

Kai opened the door, and again, without seeing who was there, "LOOKI'MSOSORRYFORSLAMMINGTHEDOORINYOURFACEANDI'LL BUYYOURCOOKIES!"

It turned out, that person was Aida with a 'what-the-heck?' look on her face, "Kai, I slammed the door in your face," said and tapped Kai on the nose. "You need to see a psychiatrist."

"Finally! Someone who agrees with me on the subject!" Zane exclaimed.

"I didn't know you thought Kai should see a psychiatrist too! I always thought that, but I kept it to myself—for Kai's sake," Jay added, nodding his head with mock serenity.

"I'm right here you know!" Kai whined, looking around exasperated, with a small frown on his face.

"Then you finally know the awful truth," Sensei said approaching the kids, making them all jump in surprise. But then again, he does that often.  
"Yep, the awful truth is that he does need to go to the mental hospital with his own personal psychiatrist," Jay quipped.

Sensei half glared at him.

Kai gave an exasperated sigh, "Maybe one day in the near distant future I will go to a psychiatrist then to the metal hospital. Now onto the next topic, with is more pressing right now," Kai looked at Aida, "WHATAREYOUDOINGHERE?!" he demanded, yelling in Aida's face making her back up but quickly recovered from Kai's outburst.

"What is it with you and yelling sentences that sound like one word?" she retorted.

Kai sighed, "Look, I'm just a little touchy right now."

Lloyd snorted, "A little?"

Everyone whipped around, "WHERE DID YOU COME FROM?!" Jay yelled.

Lloyd shrugged, "I guess it runs in the family," he stuck his tongue out in a taunting manner.

Aida rolled her eyes, "Guys, I didn't come here to watch you rip each other apart," she shook her head with her hands on her hips.

"That doesn't sound very humane," Zane commented, looking a little disgusted.

"We were never humane, Zane!" Jay said, sounding a little irritated.

"I'm serious!" Aida growled, slapping her forehead.

"We apologize," Zane said, turning to Aida, "we will listen."

Aida nodded and Sensei led everyone to the kitchen, he made everybody sit down at the table to listen to Aida and give everyone tea. "Is this another story?" Jay asked.

"No! It's an idea—" Aida began but was cut off by Kai.

"AW MAN! We forgot my crazy plan!" he complained.

"I'm kinda glad we did; that's why we told Zane not to remind you," Lloyd pointed out.

"Please! Or I can get up and leave this very second!" Aida banged her head on the table four times.

Jay looked at Zane and whispered in his ear, "Jeez...what's her problem?" Zane nodded in agreement.

**At Ninjago High...**

Sophie was told there was some important information that Brian could use for his 'medicine' that could wipe out the entire human race, so she was sent to the school - for that was where the information was, under the alias of, 'Sophie McAlister'.

Sophie had to get to that information first before the Ninja, otherwise they could stop Brian's boss's scheme of making all of Ninjago sick and the mastermind would swoop in with the promise of saving the people, and he would only have one request: Ruling all of Ninjago!

If she got that info first, nothing could stop them.

Sophie walked to the school wearing a red wig, as a recap, she recently graduated.

"Okay...you're just a student...like you were when...when...come on, Sophie! You can't even remember when you graduated!" she chided herself.

**Back at the Bounty...**

Aida looked at everyone, "Good. Now that you're all settled down, we can actually hear me talk!"

Sensei nodded slowly and sipped his tea, "Yes, continue before one of my maniacs for a student go even more crazy," he chuckled lightly.

Aida nodded, "Yeah, I know how to get Cole back," she looked at the whole crew and continued, "If we can break into a heavily guarded area in The Mountain of a Million Steps, guarded with laser beams, possessed dogs that drank the sewer water that the Great Devourer's venom seeped in," everyone shuddered, "well-trained men who are expert bowmen, they can shoot 7 arrows in the space of 3 seconds and even a bear. Plus a capybara Brian keeps in his office that once ate all of his paperwork," Aida clapped her hands together. "Any questions?"

Jay raised his hand and spoke before Aida called on him, "Yeah...HOWTHEHECKAREWESUPPOSEDTOGETPASTABEAR!" and he added more calmly, "And what's a capybara?"

"You know what? Forget the questions. You want my help?" Aida looked at everyone.

"But, Aida, why are you doing this? I thought you were trying to kill us," Zane pointed out, confused.

"Okay, Zane, number one, I never planned on killing you, and number two, Benjamin talked me into it," Aida answered.

"You mean you just did this for a bribe?" Nya asked, cocking her eyebrow.

"Okay...I lied. He just told me the reality of it," Aida threw her arms up in the air, "now chop, chop! Do you want help or not?"

Nya nodded her head before speaking, "I think I can trust you this time,"

"Agreed," Zane stood up, as if making a motion in court.  
Jay slapped his head and pulled Zane back down to his seat, "Zane, say, 'I'm in'."

"I'm in! I don't want to keep knocking Kai's eyes out or he might do something ugly," Lloyd glanced at Kai.

"Count me in! Don't let me miss all the action," Kai added. "Since Jay hasn't really said anything, we're gonna assume Jay's in!" Garmadon clapped Jay on the back.

"Yeah, I'm in!" Jay nodded.

Aida nodded, "Well, you're gonna want to bring some grass," with that, she quickly exited the door.

* * *

**Yay! Aida's going to help the Ninja and the Garmadon family rescue Cole!**

**But what about Sophie? Does Aida know that to tell the others or is she leaving our heroes into a trap?**

**Thanks for all your support! I want to give a shoutout to my most loyal reviewers! The guest who writes in third person, TheComingofEpic, ZaneWalker, and AreiaCananaid.**

**I also thank all of you others who reviewed, like Ninjagosbiggestfan, NinjagoGirl101, Master Derpy, and LadyMarissaGarmadon. **

**And all you others! You know if you reviewed or not. **

**BTW...the clues might be coming back...soon :D**


	16. A Strange Encounter

**This story ****_might_**** almost be finished ****if**** you want it to be.**

**If you want the Ninja (including Cole and Aida) go back to high school and try to beat Sophie to the important info on top of that, they also try to stay in tact with their homework :O**

_**Or**_**, they just break into the school and try to get to the info.**

**The school option might make the story longer but more humorous. The other option probably will shorten the story A LOT.**

**Anyway, just tell me in the reviews!**

**Edited by AreiaCananaid.**

* * *

Zane looked at Sensei, "Grass?" he asked, confusion clear in his voice.

Sensei shrugged as Aida walked back in the room with a small embarrassed smile, "Okay...I kind of forgot to tell you the plan," Misako urged her to continue when Aida stopped talking, "I was thinking we could avoid all of Brian's paranoid protections and just...well, I pretend I caught Nya." she looked at Jay, "Jay, you pretend that you snuck along with me and while you distract Brian because of your annoying talking," there was an indignant 'hey' from the said person, but he was ignored, "Kai, Lloyd, and Zane will try to get as much inside info they can while I rescue Cole and Zane's dad."

Nya clicked her tongue, "Sounds like a good plan," she paused, "but how are you going to rescue them? And alone?"

"I have all that covered," Aida said, "Just be ready to leave at ten sharp," this time, Aida left for real.

**Four hours later...**

Jay checked his watch, "Okay, one more hour until Aida comes," he started to bound Nya, careful not to make it too tight.

Lloyd, who had been playing with a ball, decided to kick it, but it bounced back and in his face, "Ouch," he looked at Zane who was lost in thought; momentarily forgetting about his wounded pride, asked: "Are you okay, Zane?"

"No," Zane mumbled as he shook his head, "only a short time after I find out my father is alive, I find that he is slowly dying because of the woman that is supposedly helping us get him back. What if that same woman is leading us in a trap?"

"I thought you were in," Jay commented, finished with tying Nya up and listening in on the conversation.

"I am. I'm just thinking," Zane answered. "What would happen if Aida cannot find a cure? What will happen to Father?"

Nya bit her lip, not knowing what to say. What could she say? Even though she felt very sorry for Zane she couldn't help thinking: 'I wonder what it's like to die for the second time.'

**One hour later at the Bounty...**

Aida arrived in four-inch heels and Kai whistled, "How are you supposed to be stealthy in those?"

Jay smirked as he looked at what she was wearing and gave the rope that tied to Nya's wrists to Aida, "Yeah, no wonder we caught onto you so fast," he joked.

Aida feigned laughter, "Yeah, yet I succeeded in taking Cole and Doctor Julien," Jay's smirk vanished.

"Way to ruin my victory moment," he pouted.

Lloyd smacked Nya across the face leaving a bad mark, "OW! Lloyd! Why'd you do that?!" she asked.

The Green Ninja blushed and he looked down at the floor, "We needed something to show to what's-his-face you got captured and if you didn't have any marks, that'd mean she went without a fight, and that in itself would be suspicious," he reasoned.

Zane nodded, "Interesting logic."

"But..." Kai shrugged, "I guess it makes sense."

At the Mountain of a Million Steps...

Instead of walking to the steps, Aida walked to the side of the mountain and felt around, within a few seconds, Aida pushed on a barely visible rock on the mountain face and a passage opened up, "Come on," she moved to the side and waited for everyone to walk inside the mountain.

The inside of the mountain, despite it being the same mountain the serpentine used to hide the Fang Blade looked different; pretty much everything was red and gold, it looked like the inside of a king's room without windows. There was an expensive red rug with gold trimming there was also tassels that were on the corners of it. Tapestries, depicting a battle, hung on the wall. No electricity lightened the room, only oil lamps- casting shifting shadows on the wall and furniture.

"Whoa...this does NOT look like an evil lair," Jay commented, stroking gold cushion on a royal red futon.

Aida nodded, "I know, right? But it is," she walked to another room, letting the others follow her. The room was almost the same room except it was mirrored of the other room and themed with royal blue and silver.

"Wow..." everyone's jaws were wide open,trying to take in the million quid room.

Aida slapped them all back to sanity, "Remember our main mission here! The dungeon is this way." she led them to another room, but instead of the lavish rooms, it was a dungeon.

It was dark in there and smelled musty, the eerie room made ones hair stand on end. Lloyd held his nose, "Wad Brian trying to recreate medieval times?" he asked.

Aida nodded, "Yep, he's strangely obsessed with kings, queens, and all that jazz." she looked around and whispered, "Okay, guys," she turned to face the Ninja, "Let's carry out this mission and remember the distress call," she reminded them, Zane, Kai, and Lloyd nodded and darted out of the dungeon and went to where Aida said Brian's office was; where they could find some information.

Aida told Jay where to hide before she called Brian, "BRIAN! Get over here!" she yelled and Brian ran out of his office and into the dungeon.

"What do you want, Prescott?" Brian snapped.

Aida rolled her eyes, "Brian, it's Davis. Not Prescott," she added, "I got the girl back."

Brian smiled, "Very good, Prescott," he said, saying 'Prescott' just to spite Aida. He grabbed Nya's chin, "Looks like someone got a slap on the face, huh?" he said in a taunting manner.

Nya spat in his eyes, "I can't believe you'd do this. _Jay_ will come for me!" Nya hissed, emphasizing the word, 'Jay' as the signal for Jay to enter the scene.

Jay got his cue and jumped in, knocking Brian to the ground, "Whoops. Sorry, mister, didn't see you there," Jay apologized but didn't help Brian up off the ground.

"You'd better be," Brian muttered and got back up. "And who do you think you are?" he demanded.

Jay scoffed, "I followed your little spy back to the mountain to get Nya back," he smiled, starting the distraction.

**In Brian's office...**

Kai opened a drawer, "Remember when Aida told us to bring grass?" he asked taking out a file folder.

Lloyd nodded while picking a lock to a safe he found behind a painting of a safe, "Yeah, I did think that was a little weird."

"Why do you think Aida instructed us to bring grass?" Zane asked.

"Meh," Kai answered, flipping through Brian's diary. "Women are weird like that sometimes," his eyes widened, "HOLY BISCUIT!" he shouted, but Lloyd and Zane quickly covered his mouth.

"Zip it, Kai! Or you're gonna get us caught," Lloyd whispered, his eyes glued to the door.

Zane walked to the door, "Should we lock it?" he suggested.

Kai shook his head, "If we do, he'll know that someone's in his office," he looked at the journal, "You know that substance Aida told us about that can wipe out the entire human race?"

Zane nodded, "Yes, but I do not see any connection," he answered.

"Well you haven't read it! The journal states that the final key to the medicine lies within Ninjago City High! And Brian sent Sophie—hey, hey! Brian's got a major crush on this woman named Diane," Kai added, "She's not that bad looking, either."

Lloyd smacked his across the back of his head, "Hello?"

Kai blinked, "Oh yeah, Brian sent Sophie to get the last part of the substance and if she gets it before we do, there's nothing that can stop—wait. Who's Eva?"

Zane gasped, "Onyx's daughter! Remember? If we get out of here, we are going to have to talk to her."

Once Jay had completely distracted Brian, Aida snuck over to where the keys were kept, on a wall.

She pretended to trip, knocking the keys off their hook, Brian turned, "You klutz! Pick those up!" he snapped at her.

Aida picked up the keys and pretended to put the keys back on the hook and snuck to Doctor Julien and Cole's cell, after Jay had pulled Brian away, she slowly unlocked the cell.

**~x~X~x~**

Cole woke up as he heard the faint squeak of the cell door being swung in, he opened his mouth to say something but Aida quickly hushed him and shook Doctor Julien awake, "Follow me," she whispered cautiously.

When she snuck Cole and Doctor Julien out of the mountain, Cole grabbed Aida's wrist and spun her around to make eye contact, "Why?" he asked coldly.

Aida looked at the ground, "I didn't have much of a choice," she continued, "If you don't kill me, I'll explain everything when we get back to the Bounty."

Cole let go of her wrist and Aida put a duck call in her mouth.

**With Jay (back in the dungeon)**

Jay heard the duck call, "Uh...think fast!" he said and took out his Elemental Blade to zap Brian unconscious and untied Nya.

"Nice talking about how you need floaties to swim," Nya chuckled. Jay wore a frown on his face but quickly dragged Nya out of the dungeon to meet up with Kai, Lloyd, and Zane. But they never appeared because they were busy doing something else.

While Jay and Nya were waiting, the other three were running from a capybara who was hungry and wanted some grass, "Why didn't we bring grass?" Kai sighed.

"I believe it was that we thought that it was dumb," Zane said as he recalled their conversation they had earlier.

"From now on in I am going to carry grass with me everywhere," Kai panted.

Soon the three Ninja found themselves on top of a bookshelf.

The capybara made a weird sound, a mix of a pig and a horse, "What did it say?" Lloyd asked.

"Does it look like I can speak whatever that thing is?" Kai snapped.

"I guess this is the reason Aida wanted us to bring grass," Zane said, "The capybara is hungry."

Kai walked to the desk and the capybara ran to him, instead of trying to kill him, it just stared at him, "I guess we kinda forgot that this thing doesn't eat meat," Kai stated.

Lloyd and Zane climbed down a bookshelf, "I guess we didn't need grass," Lloyd announced proudly when the capybara started to make its weird noise...loudly.

"Be quiet! You're gonna get us caught!" Lloyd bit his lip and tried to hold the capybara's mouth shut but almost got his hand bit off.

They heard Brian's voice, "What's that?" and then they heard footsteps coming their way.

* * *

**To me, that is the first intentional cliffhanger that I've made in a while.**

**But capybaras are SO CUTE! In a rodent type of way.**

**Remember to say if you want the ninjas go to the high school to try to beat Sophie there :3**

**Anyway, the 27th of April was Dixie's birthday! Exactly one month after mine :D**

**Besides Ninjago, what are some of your favorite TV shows?**


	17. Don't Be Sheepish!

**I saw the preview for the next Nancy Drew game and I am SO getting that one! Sure I skipped out on Ghost of Thornton Hall but that's what YouTube's for, right?**

**And to Grungekitty: Yes. It ****_is_**** common the Ninjago archives which made me hesitant to write about and why I asked people if I should.**

**But so far, the Ninja (and possibly Aida) probably are going to high school. The voting ends when I actually get to that chapter.**

* * *

Lloyd's heart started beating like a drum. He was tempted to kick the capybara- with its loud and weird noise- to the other side of the room. Instead, he dived behind Brian's desk because it was pretty much the only hiding place in the whole office.

"Great that you found a hiding place, but what about us?" Kai snapped. Lloyd shrugged.

Zane, who was looking around the room, took the last hiding spot: a closet that was full of boxes. He said to Kai before he closed the closet door, "It was nice knowing you, brother," Zane shut the door and Kai was left speechless.

The door opened and Kai slipped behind the door when an older man slammed it open, "Janice, what's the matter?" he snapped at the capybara.

"Like it can talk," Kai snickered. With Brian's journal in hand, Kai crept out from behind the door, trying to escape the room.

Once Kai had made it to the door frame, the older man turned around, "You! What are you doing here?"

Kai knew he was a gone unless Jay and Nya popped out of nowhere and saved him, "Oh hey, Lukas... I didn't think I'd see you again so soon," he added with a grin, "I thought we'd meet in a court room."

Lukas sneered, "Watch your tongue, boy! We both know I have the choice to end your destiny now, or later."

"Actually, you don't," Kai glanced at a book that was on the floor next to him, an insane plan forming in his mind and moved to set it into action—Lloyd zapped Lukas with lightning before Kai could put his risky plan into motion.

Kai glared at Lloyd, "SERIOUSLY! You couldn't have done that earlier?!" he demanded.

"Sorry, it kind of slipped my mind I could...do that...yeah..." Lloyd answered.

Zane opened the door to his hiding spot. "Let's go before he wakes up," he suggested.

The three boys walked down the winding corridors finding their way back to Jay and Nya. They met up with them back in the dungeons, "It took you long enough!" Jay complained.

Kai answered in a mocking tone, "I'm so sorry; we just met a herbivore who tried to bite our hands off and then we got caught by Lukas!"

"Fine, fine." Nya said, her hands gesturing in a way to keep the peace before she continued, "Aida, Cole, and DJ should be waiting for us outside."

With that they tried to find their way out of the dungeon.

**One hour later...**

They had been lost in the dungeon for about an hour when Jay started to panic, when he stepped on a snake, his randomly running around got them out of the dungeon and out of The Mountain of a Million Steps.

"Good," Aida praised sarcastically, "you're out."

"If you had encountered that stupid capybara you would have been late too!" Kai defended.

"Not really," Aida countered, "I did tell you to bring grass."

Zane noticed Cole and Doctor Julien, "Father!" he ran to hug his father but looked at him then Aida, "Did you get the cure while you were there?" he asked hopefully.

Aida opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out so Jay spoke for her, "What she's trying to say is: no."

"I was busy breaking a couple of people out of jail! How could I have looked for a cure? You were the ones raiding Brian's office!"

"Kai was looking at women in Brian's diary so he obviously doesn't know anything," Nya cut in.

"You what?" Cole asked.

"I was not! Okay, it was ONE. Not plural. And I really didn't want to look at her."

"Guys?" Nya tried to say.

"So did anyone find a cure?" Zane asked.

"I'm taking no one found anything of what we're saying," Jay added.

"So you raided Brian's office just to look at women in Brian's journal?" Aida asked.

"No! We found something," Lloyd said.

"Ooh, look, Pretty Woman!" Jay said looking at a book he was standing on.

"The novel Pretty Woman?" Cole asked.

After that, everything was chaos, everyone started talking at the same time, not knowing what one another was saying because he or she was focused on what he or she was talking about.

"ENOUGH!" Nya screamed at the top of her lungs, sick of the noise, and everyone turned to look at her, "We can discuss this maturely over the table back at the Bounty."

**At the Bounty**

Garmadon pulled a chair out for Misako, "Who's information is most important?" he asked.

"Mine!" Kai, Lloyd, Zane, and Doctor Julien said at the same time.

"Well that didn't work," Jay commented then said, "Let's go by this alphabetically."

"That means you, Kai." Doctor Julien said.

"No it's you, J comes before K," Kai corrected.

"Of course...I was just...seeing if you knew that," Doctor Julien replied sheepishly and continued, "My son was talking about a cure for something, what was he talking about?" everyone grew silent.

"Can we talk about that later?" Zane asked.

"Sure... But why?"

No one replied except Sensei, "Do you know something that we don't?" he asked.

Again, no one answered so Kai started to talk, "Well the mastermind behind this whole operation isn't Brian. He's just being used a pawn, it's either blackmail or bribing with money, anyway, he's helping create a poison substance that can destroy the entire human race and the last key remains in Ninjago City High. We don't know what it is, but Zane did figure that is should be in the school's lab."

"What?!" Misako asked, shocked.

"Yeah...the poisen...that's what's killing Doctor Julien," Nya said quietly. Misako, Garmadon, and Doctor Julien's jaws dropped to the floor.

"He's...dying?" Garmadon managed to sputter.

"That was a little sudden, sis," Kai whispered in Nya's ear.

Zane nodded slowly, "But we will discuss the details later, for now, we should hear what Lloyd has to say."

"Well you remember Eva, right?" Lloyd asked and everyone nodded, "Well we think she's the mastermind behind all of this according to Brian's journal. So maybe we should talk to Onyx again? Try to get more information?"

"Do we know where she lives?" Misako asked.

"Why do you think the Internet was invented?" Jay answered.

"Stalker," Cole mumbled.

"What did you say?" Jay asked.

"I said...that was an amazing idea...!"

"Yeah...sure ya did."

Nothing else of too much interest was talked about except for Jay's new voicemail message. Cole had walked in on him a few months earlier while he made it and it went something this:

"Jay, what are you doing? And what's with the sound effect disc?" Cole asked, when he spotted Jay holding his cell phone and a sound effect disc.

"I'm making a new voicemail thingy! Now shush or your annoying voice will be heard in the background," Jay answered and played the sound effect before Cole could protest and a bleating of sheep was heard. The four seconds after it finished, Jay said, "Don't be sheepish, leave a message!"

* * *

**The sheepish joke was made up by my mom when she was playing around with her iMac's sound effects and there was a sheep bleat.**

**And this chapter was SO boring. **

**I've been working on another Ninjago story that won't be published so these chapters may be a little boring for the next few chapters.**


	18. EDIT: The Journal

**Edited by AreiaCananaid.**

**Oh, BTW, if you noticed, I changed the summary to make it more accurate and the 'things get personal' is actually an inside joke XD**

**And a lot of my OCs' faces will remain a mystery so you can draw a picture in your mind with the descriptions in the story I give you.**

**xXx**

Misako suddenly noticed Doctor Julien and Cole's pale looks and bags under their eyes. She suddenly realized what they had gone through and mentally kicked herself and said, "Oh, my! You two look like death sucking on a bad lemon. Do you need something to eat? We just got so excited we forgot."

Cole nodded and spoke in a wavering voice, "Yeah...some food would be nice..."

Misako stood up and motioned for Nya to help get the two some food and drink.

Lloyd looked at Jay, "Maybe you should start stalking Onyx."

Jay pulled out his phone and googled her name, "She's surprisingly easy to find over the Internet," he said, astonished to find something about her so quickly. "She lives in Jacksonville. I even have her specific location," he finished, smiling broadly after his first initial surprise had worn off.

"So after we eat we can go visit her, right?" Doctor Julien queried.

Kai nodded, "Yeah," he looked around the room, and couldn't find what he was looking for. "Hey, where'd Aida go?"

"I wouldn't be surprised if she went off to report to Brian," Jay snapped.

Garmadon ran to the door which was hanging wide open, "Wherever she went," he said before sitting down, "she's long gone."

"Should we be worried or glad we probably won't ever see her again?" Cole asked.

"Only time will tell," Sensei answered and sipped some of his tea.

After eating, Nya flew the Bounty over to Onyx's house and when Cole was about to knock, they heard an interesting phone conversation:

"...must be taken care of. No, we can't just wait it out, the girl has to stay out of the way...she could take the information and keep it to herself. At this point, no one can be trusted. Of course I don't care what could happen! It WOULD happen if we didn't get rid of the girl. She has to go."

Nya looked at Jay, "What was she talking about?" she asked timidly.

"I don't know...maybe we should ask her...in a not-suspicious way." Lloyd suggested and looked sideways at Zane, "Zane, you're good at talking. So you ask her."

"I'll try," answered Zane and knocked on the door.

Onyx opened it, "Oh! It's you! Come in, come in," she welcomed the Ninja, Nya, and their Sensei inside the house, "Would you like something to drink or eat?"

Nya shook her head, "No thanks, we just ate."

"Okay," Onyx said in understanding.

"Have you gotten any... weird phone calls lately?" Zane asked suddenly.

Onyx looked confused, "Uh, no?"

"Any business calls or something? Like something from your boss..." Nya cut in.

"What are you getting at?" Onyx asked her eyes narrowing in suspicion.

Sensei quickly covered for his students, "We are just curious of what you do for a living."

"Is that the reason you came? Just a social visit?"

"Well we also came to ask you about your missing daughter but we also want to ask you about your job. Any complications? Anything?" Kai asked.

Onyx suddenly started to laugh, "Did you hear my phone conversation?"

Sensei looked sheepish and nodded, "Yes, I am afraid to admit we were eavesdropping but do you work for Brian?"

Onyx shook her head, "Of course not! I am a fashion designer and my intern named Mia Mallory is actually a reporter and was leaking information. The things about the information had nothing to do about my job, however. Just some information for my grandson's final term paper," she explained and continued. "Someone was trying to break into his room to get his research for it. If you know us women, we tend to ramble."

"Oh... that makes a lot more sense." Jay chuckled.

"Well you came here to talk about Eva, so ask away," Onyx said.

"Well..." Lloyd rolled his eyes around, "We don't actually know what to ask."

"We just want to know if you know anything more about Eva," Kai said.

Onyx stood up, "Well actually..." she walked to a bookshelf and pulled down an old book. It's cover was tattered and dusty and the pages were so thin you could see through them, "I found this old journal," Onyx gently handed Sensei the journal.

"How old is that thing? It looks like it came from when the USM locked the Stone Warriors underground," Jay stated.

Sensei gently opened the cover, he looked at the date. It was a lot younger than it looked, "Why, it's only one-hundred years old!"

Cole looked at the book, "The years have NOT been kind to that book."

"You can say that again," Kai agreed.

"It's written in Old English," Lloyd said and tried to read it, "Jan...June ninth...I feel like I'm just learning how to read."

Zane looked over the journal, "Here, let me try," he scooted Lloyd out of the way and Sensei handed him the book:

"_'July ninth, 1931: Since Dad went away to find a job, our house was turned into a nuthouse. The house has been turned upside down as well as my life. I'll never complain about eating my vegetables again. At least some of the boarders are nice but some... not so much. The kids that are my age sometimes help me with the chores and the garden._'," Zane turned the page, careful not to tear it, and continued to translate: "_'July twelfth, 1931: I found a hobo sign on our gate. It had a cat on it. One of our workers, a hobo himself, told me and my friends (which are other boarders) said a cat means the kind lady lives here and some other signs, a fish bone means good garbage. Does that mean the people are bad or literally good garbage? I didn't have time to ask because I had to help Mother tend the garden. I hate planting peas. Especially since they don't taste that good. July fourteenth 19231: One of my friends, Ruth told me that my journal could make it in a museum in the next fifty years. I didn't believe her because I plan to keep this journal to myself. Larry, the hobo that works for food, taught me some more hobo signs. I learned danger and all the other 'GET OUT OF HERE' signs. I decided those were the most important. Larry even said I might visit the hobo jungle he lives in_.'," Zane stopped and turned the page, and saw Lloyd's confused expression.

"Okay...what's happening in this story? And what's a hobo?" Lloyd asked and everyone burst into laughter.

"A hobo,_ Lloyd_," Cole explained, putting a mocking emphasis on 'Lloyd'. Cole continued to explain as if to a 3 year old, "is a homeless person. They travel roads and such, they ride railways to look for work. A lot of them were around the 1930s because of the Great Depression. Plenty of people who had big enough houses started a boarding houses to earn money and pay the bills," he finished.

"What's the Great Depression?" Lloyd asked.

"Nya, you did a horrific job of teaching the kid about American history," Kai teased.

Nya rolled her eyes, "Well you guys were so intent on training him I never got the chance."

"Well it paid off," Kai argued.

"Uh, hello? An answer to my question?" Lloyd asked impatiently.

"The market crashed in the early 1930s and people worldwide suffered from it," Onyx explained.

"Okay... back to the journal, I guess?"

Zane looked back at the book:

"_'July 13th 1931: I saw a 'GET OUT OF HERE' sign today. I can see why. A freaky woman that was drastically old-schooled with very sharp teeth lived there. She said something strange. I was glad I didn't understand that launguage...whatever it was. After she said it, the world went black and when I woke up, I was in my house with Mother, Larry, and Aunt Bess by my bed. It turned out I had a really bad fever... and I still do. I tried to explain what happened but I didn't have a way to explain it. Maybe it was all a dream. But it seemed so real. Did this all happen because all of those digits is an odd number? Even the month. The 13th is supposed to be an unlucky number...I wonder. July 14th 1931: I was right. Yesterday was bad luck. The woman visited me again. She told me something in her weird language again. I didn't know what she said but it scared me. She scared me. I think I'm gonna have nightmares. July 15th 1931: Odd numbers again. I found a cryptic note on my nightstand this morning. It told me to go to Deadman's Lake. Named because of many people drowned in that lake because of the weak ice. The first was a freak accident, the other four, they died trying to find the body. Hundreds of others died in attempt to find the bodies but those who went to the lake, never came back home. Even the few that did come back, they were off their rocker. And I was supposed to meet this person there. At eleven at night. An odd number again. I don't know why, but I think I'm going to go. July 16th 1931: I know what happened to those people! I know everything! But I shouldn't be writing this. If I'm caught, I'm dead... LITERIALLY! I need to stop but something's keeping me going to write someone's coming. I can't stop. Why can't I stop? I need to' _it ends here.'" Zane finished, Jay's face was priceless. He was scared to death.

"It just... ends? Does that mean we should go to Deadman's Lake?" Nya asked.

"Nya! Are you kidding me? You heard the diary! Those who go there either die in the lake, or go crazy! We CANNOT go there!" Jay protested.

"Jay, you obviously forgot all the other stuff we have done," Lloyd said.

Cole nodded in agreement, "We've covered a lot more than just a haunted lake!"

Onyx took a closer look at the journal and carefully turned some blank pages, "Wait, here's one last entry." She translated:

"_'March 14th, 1961: It's been a while, huh? I can't write what I learned at Deadman's Lake but I can say one thing, don't go there. The Lady in Black will catch you. She doesn't like people hanging around her lake. If you go there, remember, the pen is mightier than the sword._'," Onyx looked confused, "The pen is mightier than the sword? What's THAT supposed to mean?" she asked.

Kai shrugged, "Well, I'm going to Deadman's Lake tonight at eleven. Whoever wants to come is welcome, but I will go alone if I have to."

Jay's jaw dropped, "KAI! You can't go there! What if something really bad happens?!" he protested.

"You don't have to go," Kai said.

"Well I'm going. I can't let you go by yourself," Nya spoke up. Zane, Sensei, Onyx, Cole, and Lloyd also agreed to go and with a little urging, Jay hesitantly agreed, "Okay...fine. But if I die..." Jay narrowed his eyes at Kai.

"Yeah, yeah. You can kill me," Kai rolled his eyes.

**Later that night...**

Cole and Zane were practically dragging Jay to the 'haunted' lake, "Guys, should we really do this? I mean we know where the information is! At the harmless Ninjago High! Can't we just go there? Who cares about this silly lake? Let's just break in the school, find the info, take the info, save the world again, and BAM! We can just forget about Deadman's Lake! I don't want to be a dead man!" Jay babled while whimpering, tugging on Cole's arm.

"You're not gonna be a dead man. If you die, you're gonna be a dead teen," Kai teased then sighed, turning to Jay, who had stopped in his tracks.

"Oh, yeah. That helps SO MUCH," Jay rolled his eyes sarcastically.

"Don't get cold feet now, Jay. We're almost there. You have your Elemental Blades and all the Lady in Black has is a supercool accent and a beautiful dress. What could happen?" Onyx asked.

Jay sighed, "How do you guys talk me into this stuff?" he asked.

"Easy," Lloyd shrugged, "You're a pushover."

"I am not!"

"Yeah, you kind of are," Kai agreed.

"Yeah right!"

"Admit it!"

"No way!"

"That's kind of admitting it," Zane piped up

Jay sighed and suddenly stopped when Sensei caught him, "No, don't move," Sensei hissed.

Jay was about to walk into the lake, "Aw, Sensei, are you getting paranoid too?" Kai asked.

"No, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't be wary of drowning until we know what is in that water," Sensei answered.

"Good point, I guess," Cole shrugged when suddenly there was a hiss and smoke started to form on the lake, reaching the shore at a fast pace. The Ninja, Nya, Sensei and Onyx looked up, their eyes growing wide with horror as they saw The Lady in Black.

She appeared to be standing on the surface of the lake— grinning evilly.

"Eva!" Onyx exclaimed.

"Yes, now you know that I'm alive, but you won't live to tell the tale," she smiled; but the smile never reached his eyes- which were just cold and malicious. Sudenly they felt something pushing them all in the lake and then something else dragged them to the very bottom.

**xXx**

**That cliffhanger was because I failed to give you one in the last chapter.**

**What's your favorite Disney Pixar movie?**

**Mine is probably _Ratatouille _****because I'm the only person in my family that can spell 'ratatouille' at age nine. **

**What's your favorite DreamWorks movie?**

**I like **_**How to Train Your Dragon**_**. And nope, I don't have any rants for their movies. But you can rant about Disney Pixar and DreamWorks' movies all you want in the reviews.**

**I'll update Be Careful What You Wish For when I get some inspiration.**


	19. Author's note

**Sorry. This isn't a chapter. I'm going to have to put this story and ****_The Toll For Torturing a Ninja_**** on hold for about three reasons.**

**1. I don't have time for this right now.**

**2. The reason I don't have time for writing is because of a family emergency that involves surgery.**

**3. I kind of lost the motivation to write.**

**Thanks for reading and understanding. I don't know when I'll start updating again and you've probably noticed my absence since I haven't been reading or reviewing so... yeah.**

**Again, I am sorry that I won't be able to update for up to three months. But I might write a oneshot now and then so keep your eyes open! The reason I am writing this is so you won't threaten me to update and to show that I'm not dead yet or something.**

**However, I will have some time on other websites so feel free to contact me on international Howrse under the name Oak Tree, U.S. Howrse under the name βεℓℓα, or on Furry-Paws under the same username and callname.**

**I'll probably be on there a lot more than FanFiction if you're wondering why, it's because I just... okay, I really don't know why but if you want to contact me do it on Howrse or Furry-Paws (preferably on international Howrse) or if you don't have an account on them, you can just private message me on here but it might take a while for me to reply.**


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